Fronto-orbital Advancement and Anterior Cranial Vault Reconstruction

Craniosynostosis is a condition in which one or more of the cranial vault sutures fuses prematurely. Virchow described the sequence of events that adversely affect skull growth in craniosynostosis. He observed that skull growth is arrested in the plane perpendicular to the fused suture, and there is a compensatory overgrowth at the nonfused sutures. This disrupted growth pattern results in a characteristic calvarial deformity.1,2 For rapid brain growth to proceed unconstrained in infancy, the cranial vault and base sutures must remain open and expand during phases of rapid growth, resulting in marginal ossification.