Kelly Kevin M, Joganic Edward F, Beals Stephen P, Riggs Jeff A, McGuire Mary Kay, Littlefield Timothy R
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
Barrow Cleft and Craniofacial Center, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
Glob Pediatr Health. 2018 Oct 16;5:2333794X18805618. doi: 10.1177/2333794X18805618. eCollection 2018.
Deformation of the cranium in infancy represents a spectrum of deformity, ranging from severe asymmetric yet proportional distortion of the skull in plagiocephaly, to nearly symmetric yet disproportional distortion in brachycephaly. As such, the condition is best described as with isolated plagiocephaly and/or isolated brachycephaly being at either ends of the spectrum. Due to its symmetric appearance, deformational brachycephaly is often incorrectly dismissed as being less concerning, and it has sometimes erroneously been reported that brachycephaly cannot be treated successfully with a cranial orthosis. We prospectively report on 4205 infants with isolated deformational brachycephaly treated with a cranial orthosis from 2013 to 2017. These results demonstrate that the orthosis is successful in the treatment of deformational brachycephaly with an 81.4% improvement toward normal (95.0 to 89.4) in cephalic index. We furthermore demonstrate that entrance age influences treatment results, with younger infants demonstrating both improved outcomes and shorter treatment times.
婴儿期颅骨变形表现为一系列畸形，从斜头畸形中严重的不对称但比例性的颅骨扭曲，到短头畸形中近乎对称但不成比例的扭曲。因此，这种情况最好描述为孤立性斜头畸形和/或孤立性短头畸形处于该谱系的两端。由于其外观对称，变形性短头畸形常常被错误地认为不那么令人担忧，而且有时有错误报道称短头畸形无法通过颅骨矫形器成功治疗。我们前瞻性地报告了2013年至2017年期间4205例接受颅骨矫形器治疗的孤立性变形性短头畸形婴儿。这些结果表明，该矫形器在治疗变形性短头畸形方面是成功的，头指数向正常改善了81.4%（95.0至89.4）。我们还表明，开始治疗的年龄会影响治疗结果，年龄较小的婴儿治疗效果更好且治疗时间更短。
