Abstract
Occipital anomalies (in particular flattening) may be related to several conditions including craniosynostosis. In general, there are three main groups of occipital flattening: 1) positional plagiocephaly, 2) lambdoid craniosynostosis, and 3) alterations related to other conditions (i.e. other types of craniosynostosis, cervical malformations, and so forth). Proper differential diagnosis is mandatory. Physical examination often allows the diagnosis, but there may be cases requiring radiological assessments.Positional forms are the most common and usually need no surgical correction, even though severe deformities that persist beyond the year of age may require surgery. Lambdoid craniosynostoses are quite rare and do require surgical correction. Different operative techniques have been proposed, but the intervention usually consists of a posterior cranial expansion. Occipital anomalies related to other conditions usually require a tailored treatment addressed to manage the alterations responsible for the deformity.
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Beretta, F., Talamonti, G., D’Aliberti, G., Canzi, G., Mazzoleni, F., Bozzetti, A. (2014). Surgical Indications and Treatment for Cranial Occipital Anomalies. In: Villani, D., Meraviglia, M. (eds) Positional Plagiocephaly. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06118-4_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06118-4_8
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