Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Craniosynostosis Repair

Overview

Context: Craniosynostosis is a common craniofacial abnormality which can be associated with various clinical syndromes. Though it has been established that children with craniosynostosis score lower on certain developmental tests, the effect of craniosynostosis and cranioplasty surgery on the neural circuitry and brain development is less well known or understood. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to describe the effect of cranial vault remodeling in children with craniosynostosis on white matter tracts with tractography and Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), functional MRI, and neurodevelopmental tests, before and after surgery as compared to age-matched controls. Study Design: This will be a prospective study of patients diagnosed with craniosynostosis and who are going to have open or endoscopic cranial vault remodeling (CVR). Study Measures: The study will measure MRI sequences before and after surgery and at set time intervals to quantify the effect of white matter tract maturity. Parallel to this, neurodevelopmental tests will be administered at these same intervals.

Craniosynostosis, the premature ossification and fusion of one or more cranial sutures, is a common craniofacial abnormality occurring in 1 of 2,000 live births. 1 2 Craniosynostosis can lead to increased intra-cranial pressure in between 12-50% of those affected which may have delayed neuro developmental implications. The crucial neurodevelopment occurs in the first years of life and is most rapidly progressing during the first year of life. Premature closure of the cranial sutures decrease the intracranial volume and space available for the rapidly developing brain. Cranial vault remodeling (CVR) is the current standard of care to mitigate any possible developmental delay secondary to craniosynostosis and also improve the head shape. CVR is a combined surgery between the neurosurgeon who takes off the cranial bone/bones, and the craniofacial surgeon who assists and reconstructs the cranium with absorbable plates and screws. After surgery, although there is no doubt that there is an improvement in head shape, the craniofacial skeleton and the soft tissues, but there is less data, and virtually no functional imaging information available addressing the effect of CVR surgery on the growing brain. The main objective of this project would be to begin to explore the relationship of CVR and it requisite effects on the growing brain with a cohort of patients who are set to undergo CVR, while performing a battery of neurodevelopmental and imaging studies pre- and post-operatively and compare with normative controls. This is one part of a three-center study collaborating with craniofacial units at Yale University and Wake Forest University in which similar, if not identical protocols will be carried out. We hope that analyses of these data will provide better insight into and greater definition of the effect of CVR and the secondarily available increase in intra-cranial volume on the growing brain in the clinical setting of craniosynostosis.