Bridged craniotomy for stable fixation of a bone flap. Technical note.

Postoperative depression of the bone flap is a common and bothersome problem in craniotomies. In this paper, a simple technique to avoid this deformity is described. The key to this technique is to leave uncut a part of each osteotomy approximately 5 mm in width as a "bridge" to the bone flap, which is then subsequently cut with the aid of a chisel. This technique provides stable fixation of the bone flap and satisfactory cosmetic results with little additional operating time.