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History of Craniosynostosis Treatment

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Fundamentals of Craniofacial Malformations

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Abstract

Craniosynostosis, the premature closure of cranial sutures, has been known to exist for centuries, but modern surgical management has only emerged and evolved over the past 100 years. Craniosynostosis can be non-syndromic or syndromic. The latter one is much more complex, and the disease involves the facial skeleton to a much greater extent. The evolution of craniosynostosis therapy is based on experiences and efforts in craniotomy and cranioplasty techniques, applied for various cranial diseases. The development of treatment tools for craniosynostosis patients in history spanned across a wide range of surgical approaches, beginning with craniotomies, craniectomies, strip craniectomies, and suturectomies and extended approaches up to extensive calvarial and facial remodeling. All developments have been driven by a growing understanding of how a prematurely fused cranial suture can affect the growth and shape of the entire skull. Craniofacial surgery developed as a new sub-specialty of plastic and cranio-maxillofacial surgery and owes its birth to the pioneering work of Paul Tessier in the late 1960s. Craniofacial surgery in the narrow sense means the simultaneous correction of cranial and facial structures. It includes and fuses together neurosurgical as well as maxillofacial/plastic surgical techniques. It has now become an established interdisciplinary discipline for the management of inborn anomalies of the craniofacial region.

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  1. Center for Jaw-, Face- and Skull Surgery, Münster, Germany

    Ulrich Meyer

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    Ulrich Meyer

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Meyer, U. (2023). History of Craniosynostosis Treatment. In: Meyer, U. (eds) Fundamentals of Craniofacial Malformations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28069-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28069-6_2

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