A case of unilateral coronal synostosis from Medieval Hungary (9th century A.D.)

A unique single suture craniosynostosis case from the 9(th) century is presented in this paper. Although craniosynostosis is a fairly common pediatric anomaly nowadays, its occurrence in archaeological collections is an uncommon precedent. Since the diagnosis and treatment of premature cranial suture closure usually happens at an early age, evaluation of the whole developmental process is a rare opportunity. The right-sided coronal suture synostosis of this 30-35 years old woman gives an interesting opportunity to observe the effect of this phenomenon in adulthood. Only slight distortion of the viscerocranium and no bony signs of elevated intracranial pressure can be seen on the skull. The women suffered remarkable bending of the whole face and cranial base of the midsagittal plane. Besides the aesthetic disorder, the condition might have contributed to a chronic headache and visual disturbances. The lack of any other typical symptom suggests the diagnosis of isolated craniosynostosis or a milder type of syndromic craniosynostosis, the possibility of an underlying causative mutation cannot be ruled out.