The condition of having mood disorders at the head of the baby is called “craniosynostosis”. Craniosynostosis can prevent the baby’s brain from growing, causing various dysfunctions. What parents should pay attention to about deformity in the baby’s head, from Memorial Bahçelievler Hospital, Department of Brain and Border Surgery, Op. Dr. Mahmut Özden gave information about treatment methods. What causes deformity in the head of babies? What are the treatment methods to eliminate the mood disorder of babies? Here you can find what you are wondering about the subject in the rest of the news.
Craniosynostosis can cause developmental problems and loss of function by preventing the growth of the brain. Recognizing this picture in the early period and making the necessary interventions is of great value for the mental development of the child.
If Sutures on Baby’s Head Aren’t Closed By 18 Months Attention!
When babies are born, there is an obvious opening in the cartilage structures called sutures in the skull. When the baby reaches the 3rd month, these sutures begin to close gradually and by the 18th month, all of them are completely closed. Babies’ brains are physically small at birth and grow over time with the body. This flexibility in the middle of the sutures is necessary for the brain to grow in a healthy state. In the case of craniosynostosis, some of these sutures close early and the part of the brain corresponding to the closed area cannot grow and is exposed to pressure.
The brain grows in the opposite direction of the area where it is exposed to pressure and deformities occur in the skull. This condition, which is seen in an average of 1 in 2,000 live births, can lead to developmental disorders in the baby. Craniosynostosis may not occur only with malaise, that is, with the closure of the cartilages. It can also occur in some genetic syndromes such as Apert syndrome and Crouzon syndrome. In these patients, there are disorders in many organs or tissues besides the headache. Therefore, if the cause of craniosynostosis is syndromic, genetic research should definitely be done.
Who Gets Craniosynostosis?
- Advanced maternal age,
- Mother’s smoking (especially continued use during pregnancy),
- Mother Caucasian,
- Mother’s high
- Boys
- Fertility treatment to get pregnant
- It is more common in cases where the father is in contact with organic matters such as some agriculture and forestry works.
- Always lay your baby in the same condition
There are many types of congenital craniosynostosis that are named according to the regions where the brain is under pressure. In addition, it can sometimes occur when forceps are used in normal delivery. Sometimes, it is a difficult birth and may occur depending on the delivery location of the fetus. Positional deformation is the most common and non-congenital type. If the child does not move much, especially until 3 months, and is always laid in one-to-one position, the place where the head comes to the pillow becomes flattened, and the forehead area swells in the opposite direction. This problem is encountered very often. Families come very uneasy, especially in this case. In these patients, the head structure usually takes its brand new form after the child starts to turn right and left and walks, in the first 2 years, and when the pressure to the ground disappears.
What Causes Craniosynostosis?
-Microcephaly (born with a small brain): In births with a small brain, the brain cannot grow. When the brain cannot grow, the skull does not grow outwardly because it cannot push the bones outwardly, and because the cartilages do not move continuously and there is no force pushing them out, they fuse and become fixed in the early period.
-Sometimes, when children are born, there is a problem of increased water in the head, called hydrocephalus. Excessive water discharge of the shunt inserted in hydrocephalus surgeries may also cause premature closure of the sutures in the skull, as it prevents the brain from actually shrinking and expanding.
-Craniosynostosis develops in metabolic diseases such as hyperthyroidism, phosphate deficiency and mucolipidosis.
-Craniosynostosis develops in gene mutations such as Apert syndrome and crouzon syndrome.
Surgical Intervention May Be Required in Late Events
In cases where craniosynostosis is suspected, plain skull x-ray, 3D brain tomography and then MRI are taken. However, if the cause of craniosynostosis is syndromic, genetic research should definitely be done. If some neurological deficits are seen in the child as a result of the pressure to which the brain is exposed, that is, if there are functional losses in the body caused by the area under the pressure of the brain, surgical intervention is required for these babies without wasting time. Sometimes, even if there is no random loss of function, surgery may be requested for purely aesthetic purposes in severe form disorders.
If the child’s brain development is sufficient, if there is no random pressure and there is no gloom in the child’s neurological development, that is, if the child’s sucking is appropriate, the connection with the environment is sufficient, and the arm and leg movements are sufficient, emergency surgery is not required. It can be expected up to 18 months. Surgery can also be performed in cases that are late, but then a plastic surgery support is required as well as a brain and border surgery team. In addition, if the child has come unnoticed until the age of 3, for example, it means that the child does not have any neurological deficit, that is, mental retardation. Developmental disorders are noticed at an earlier age.
Positional Deformities Can Be Treated Without Surgery by Wearing a Helmet!
The skull is reshaped in surgery. The closed cartilages are reopened and new cartilages are formed, or a part of the skull is removed and shaped in different ways with plate screws. A helmet can be worn for a while after the surgery. It is necessary for the child to wear a helmet to defend the skull until the ossification of the new joints created in the surgery is completed. The helmet is also recommended for positional deformities. Positional deformities can be treated without surgery by wearing a helmet. Some babies are not very obviously deformed. In this case, there is no need for surgery. However, if there are visible deformities, it is valuable to decide on surgery in competent hands, because a fully equipped center and an experienced specialist team are required for the patient, who is now an infant, from the anesthesia process, the management of the surgery to the post-operative follow-up.
