Autologous cranial particulate bone grafting reduces the frequency of osseous defects after cranial expansion

Primary autologous particulate bone grafting has been demonstrated to heal osseous defects after fronto-orbital advancement. We sought to determine if this technique was equally effective for larger defects resulting from major cranial expansion procedures. We studied children who underwent cranial expansion (other than fronto-orbital advancement) between 1989 and 2008. Defects either were left to heal spontaneously (group 1) or had autologous cranial particulate bone graft placed over dura at the time of cranial expansion (group 2). Particulate bone graft was harvested from the endocortical or ectocortical surface using a hand-driven brace and bit. Outcome variables were ossification and need for revision cranioplasty. The study included 53 children. Mean (SD) age at procedure was 12.2 (8.1) months (range, 1.0-36.0 months) for group 1 (n = 15) and 20.2 (15.1) months (range, 3.3-78.6 months) for group 2 (n = 38) (P = 0.06). There were palpable bony defects in 33.0% (n = 5) of group 1 patients versus 7.9% (n = 3) of group 2 patients (P = 0.03). Corrective cranioplasty was needed in 26.7% of group 1 patients and only 5.3% of those in group 2 (P = 0.04). Primary cranial particulate bone grafting significantly reduced the frequency of osseous defects and secondary cranioplasty following cranial remodeling.