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Helmet Treatment of Infants With Deformational Brachycephaly

Kevin M Kelly1, Edward F Joganic2, Stephen P Beals3

  • 1University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.

Global Pediatric Health
|October 24, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Cranial orthosis effectively treats deformational brachycephaly in infants, improving skull shape. Younger infants show better outcomes and shorter treatment durations when using this method for positional plagiocephaly.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Medicine
  • Craniofacial Abnormalities
  • Biomechanical Engineering

Background:

  • Infant cranial deformities range from asymmetric plagiocephaly to symmetric brachycephaly.
  • Deformational brachycephaly is often underestimated and incorrectly believed untreatable with orthoses.
  • A spectrum of deformational plagiocephaly-brachycephaly exists, with isolated forms at the extremes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the efficacy of cranial orthosis in treating isolated deformational brachycephaly.
  • To assess the impact of infant age at treatment initiation on outcomes.
  • To challenge the notion that brachycephaly is untreatable with orthotic interventions.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective study of 4205 infants with isolated deformational brachycephaly.
  • Treatment involved custom cranial orthosis.
  • Cephalic index was measured to quantify skull shape changes.

Main Results:

  • Cranial orthosis achieved an 81.4% improvement in cephalic index towards normal values (95.0 to 89.4).
  • Younger infants demonstrated significantly better treatment outcomes.
  • Earlier treatment initiation correlated with shorter treatment durations.

Conclusions:

  • Cranial orthosis is a successful treatment for isolated deformational brachycephaly.
  • Early intervention in younger infants optimizes treatment results and efficiency.
  • This study supports the use of orthoses for brachycephaly, correcting previous misconceptions.

Keywords:
cephalic indexcranial orthosisdeformational brachycephalyflat head syndrome

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