Bengaluru: The birth of Aman (name changed) brought cheer to the family, but their joy was short lived, when they noticed that three months later the baby’s head was not growing proportionately - it was elongated from front to back.
“When our little boy was born, there were no complications and he was perfectly normal. Since it was a normal birth and there were no physical anomalies visible,” said Aman’s father who could notice changes after three months. “As he reached his third month, we noticed that the shape of the head was not round and proportionate as it should be. Instead the length of the head was more than the width, thus it looked abnormally elongated from front to back. We were very concerned, as we were not sure what to do, so we consulted our family doctor, who advised us to go to a specialist,” he added.
The little boy was diagnosed with a condition called Craniosynostosis, wherein the cranial vault, which is the skull that houses the brain, is closed, posing a risk to the developing brain. “We did various tests, including CT scan, which revealed that the infant’s abnormal shaped head was because of Craniosynostosis which leads to a deformity termed as Dolichocephaly, in which the head grows abnormally long. In cases of Dolichocephaly, the skull does not grow side to side, but keeps growing lengthwise making it disproportionate and also posing a risk to the developing brain,” said Dr Rajakumar Deshpande, consultant neurosurgeon at Fortis.
The problem required a delicate handling and a posed a great challenge to the surgeons. Explaining the case Dr Rajakumar said, “In Dolichocephaly, as in baby Aman’s case, the sagittal sutures (which run from the front of the head to the back) close early, which prevents the skull from expanding in width resulting in the skull taking on a long, narrow, and boat-shaped appearance. In some children, this deformity may cause immense intracranial pressure inside the skull as the brain does not have space to expand. This can lead to serious complications such as visual impairment and impaired development in the baby. Fortunately, in this child the problem was only physical and aesthetic and there were no development problems.”
A team of neurosurgeons lead by Dr Rajakumar performed a corrective surgery on the baby, wherein incision was made and the surgeon had cut around the fused suture. Pieces of bone were removed to give space to the skull to expand and the sagittal suture, which was fused, was dissociated. The removed pieces of skull bone allow the baby’s skull to expand as the brain grows and to be molded into a more normal and functional shape.
“Aman is normal and enjoys activities like other children. We are really happy that our baby has recovered really well and the shape of his head is gradually getting back to its normal shape,” sums up an elated father.
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