Expectant mother is not without reason so often asked to take tests and undergo various examinations. Experts know that at each stage of pregnancy there are norms for the development of the fetus. Doctors determine pathologies by the size of the head, for each month it should be of a certain size. Every month, 1.5-2 cm should be added.
Craniostenosis has different manifestations
Doctors are familiar with the diagnosis of craniostenosis. It means that the sutures of the skull are overgrown prematurely. And that leads to brain damage. During the period when the brain grows most actively, the cranial cavity is not sufficiently expanded. The tower skull in newborns occurs for the same reason - it is a manifestation of craniostenosis.
Can this pathology be cured? Of course, but only with the help of surgery. Prematurely overgrown sutures are excised, or a two-flap craniotomy is performed.
One of these pathologies is acrocephaly. In this case, the newborn will have an elongated head shape that resembles a cone. It is also called a tower skull. Cause of the problemis that the intercranial sutures have fused very early.
One in a thousand
Statistics show that premature closure of at least one seam occurs as often as cleft lip, which is about one child in a thousand. Depending on how many seams are overgrown, a characteristic deformation of the head occurs. Unfortunately, in the early stages, the doctor may not notice the pathology and attribute it to the features of the postpartum configuration, not giving the disease due attention.
By the nature of the deformation, patients are divided into several categories. Acrocephaly or tower skull occurs in 12.8% of cases. The disease is clearly manifested from 5 months to 13 years. For every 28 boys with this problem, there are 19 girls.
Development of children with an abnormal skull shape
If a child has an abnormal development of the skull, it is always a pathology. The development of the psyche and motor skills in such children is delayed. Such deformations do not disappear spontaneously, some of them may become less noticeable, sometimes they can be hidden under the hair. Sometimes a problem is misdiagnosed with a different diagnosis. The problem may fade into the background if there are more serious violations of the systems and organs.
Most often, children with craniosynostosis are consulted by geneticists, they can not only establish a group of diseases, but also determine the genetic syndrome. At the same time, children practically do not get into specialized institutions and do not receive proper treatment. And without this, children in the futurehave reduced intelligence. With a tower skull, similar problems also occur, the shape of the face is disturbed due to the irregular shape of the skull.
The situation is resolved
Doctors, seeing the pathology, will always point it out to parents and suggest possible solutions. But due to various circumstances, the specialist may not notice the problem immediately. Since parents see their baby much more often, they are often the first to notice that the child has problems. Such issues are resolved surgically. This is how you can fix the tower skull. And the sooner the operation is done, the greater the chances of a full recovery. Operations can be performed from 6 months of age.
In newborns, the bones of the cranial vault are initially separated by sutures, these sutures expand at the intersections - these are the fontanelles, anterior and posterior. The back hole closes within three months, and the front one overgrows for two years. If a child has an unusual skull shape, this is usually a sign that the cranial sutures have closed early, with the rapid fusion of several sutures, the child develops a tower skull. Photos of this pathology are presented in the article.
The treatment of congenital problems is widely practiced abroad. Skull deformities are treated surgically using special techniques. The operation removes the compression of the brain. It is allowed to carry out the operation from the age of three months.
