[Craniolacunia in newborns with myelomeningocele and encephalocele (author's transl)].

Craniolacunia is characterized by clusters of deep pits with steep edges in the cranial vault of newborn infants. And also craniolacunia is anomaly of the skull of the newborn infants usually associated with spinal meningocele, myelomeningocele and occasionally with encephalocele. The purpose of this paper is to report the results of the skull roentgenologic study of 34 newborn infants with myelomeningocele and 11 newborns with encephalocele who were treated within 7 days after birth, and, to discuss the correlations with the head circumference, level of myelomeningocele, location of encephalocele, Arnold-Chiari malformation and hydrocephalus. Roentgenograms of the skull were obtained at the time of admission and were examined regarding the presence and the degree of craniolacunia. The radiographic changes were classified according to the extension of the craniolacunia, from grade 0 to grade 3. Among 34 cases of myelomeningocele, 28 cases (82%) were observed to have craniolacunia and among 11 cases of encephalocele, 4 cases (36%) had findings of craniolacunia. In our cases, the coincidence of craniolacunia with myelomeningocele was 82% and this is higher than in previous reports. But the coincidence of craniolacunia with encephalocele was same as in previous reports. There has been no report about the incidence of craniolacunia within 7 days of life.