EXPANDING CRANIAL DEFECTS FOLLOWING CRANIOFACIAL SURGERY

Growing skull fractures are a known complication of skull fractures su stained in infancy and childhood. Sometimes referred to as posttraumat ic leptomeningeal cysts, growing skull fractures have been reported to complicate up to 10 percent of pediatric skull fractures.(1) They usu ally present as progressively enlarging cranial masses at the site of linear skull fractures. Between 50 and 75 percent of cases are diagnos ed in children under 1 year of age.(2,3) Typically there is a latent p eriod of several months to years between the initial trauma and develo pment of the cranial defects. A similar clinical entity can follow cra niofacial surgery. We present a case of an expanding cranial defect af ter craniosynostosis reconstruction. This is followed by a discussion of the pathogenesis and treatment of this unusual complication of surg ery.