Craniosynostosis

Abstract

Craniosynostosis is the premature closure of one or more cranial sutures. Sometimes the entire suture is fused, but even a partial fusion can cause a deformity, as the skull growth is restricted. Although the clinical condition of craniosynostosis was described by Hippocrates in BC 400, effective treatments have only been developed in the last century [9]. In 1800, Sömmering described the anatomic structures of calvarial sutures and the results of premature closure [54]. However, the German pathologist Rudolf Virchow first used the term craniostenosis and proposed that outward growth of the skull is restricted in a direction perpendicular to the prematurely fused suture and compensatory growth occurs in the patent sutures [58]. This restriction of growth in one direction and compensatory growth in others accounts for the classic skull deformities seen in craniosynostosis. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.