Skull Development Flashcards
Craniosynostosis
Premature closure of one or more sutures that produces a misshapen skull
Brachycephaly
Fusion of coronal suture that produces a shortened front-to-back diameter of the skull (“flat-head”)
Oxycephaly, turricephaly or acrocephaly
Fusion of coronal & lambdoidal sutures produces a “tower skull”
Plagiocephaly
Fusion of coronal & lambdoidal sutures unilaterally produces an asymmetrical skull
Scaphocephaly
Fusion of the sagittal suture produces a long front-to-back diameter skull
Trigoncephaly
Fusion of the frontal suture
How can you correct skull abnormalities?
Series of plastic helmets to push/shape the skull correctly
-Can also do a surgery where you split the bones apart and leave room form them to regrow/grow back together
Lambdoidal Suture Positional Flattening
From lying baby on back
-Can be corrected with tummy time
Microencephaly
Small head due to a brain that fails to grow
-Neural tube doesn’t grow so skull doesn’t grow
Cranioschisis
A skull defect through which the meninges and/or brain herniate (NTD).
- Failure of skull to form/close all the way - herniation of brain tissue and/or meninges
- Same thing as cranial encephaloceole
Apert Syndrome
Autosomal dominant genetic disorder characterized by craniosynostosis and other congenital abnormalities (e.g., syndactyly of hands and feet, mental retardation)
- Crouzon and Pfeiffer syndrome are similar syndromes with genetic origin
- Sunken looking mid face
Acrania
No skull
Anencephaly
No brain - neuropore remains open and brain degenerates in response to amniotic fluid
Meroanencephaly
Some poorly formed brain stem tissue present
Hydrocephalus
- Blockage in ventricular system while the skull is growing - pressure on eyes, enlarged vessels that compress cortical tissue
- Enlarged ventricles due to too much CSF. If this occurs prior to closure of the sutures, the head enlarges
