[The history of cranioplasty]

Cranioplasties were first performed at the dawn of the history of medicine, as they usually constitute the repair phase of trephination. In preColumbian civilizations, they usually consisted of simple interposition of metal sheets under the scalp. Hippocrates and especially Galien prohibited this surgery and their principles were respected until the 18th century, although a remarkable surgeon, Van Meekeren, succeeded in performing a heterologous cranial bone graft from dog to man in 1668. The discovery of the osteogenic role of periosteum by Duhamel in 1742 opened the way to new research. During the 19th century, there was an extraordinary growth of science, during which all of the bases of the modern medical approach were established. For example, the studies by Ollier in 1859 allowed the first cranial reconstructions by heterologous, homologous and autologous bone transfers. The large number of head injuries left by the First World War promoted the growth of bone cranioplasties, as shown by Delagénière. The discovery of antibiotics allowed the reintroduction of cranioplasties using inert materials such as acrylic resins. However, their excessive use was complicated by numerous cases of infectious rejection. At the end of the 20th century, microsurgery and molecular biology have provided solutions, but have still not resolved the dilemma between reconstructions by autologous or foreign materials.