THE SKULL BASE IN PLAGIOCEPHALY

Between 1975 and 1992, 426 children with craniofacial malformations we re treated in the Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Hopital des Enfants de la Timone in Marseille. Plagiocephaly was present in 71 (16.6%). The authors present a reproducible analysis of the skull bas e in plagiocephaly based on these 71 patients. A control group of Medi terranean children (n = 20) was used for comparison. Clinical anthropo metric patterns were analyzed in all cases. Comparison with the contro l group showed a difference only in the nasion-lambda distance. Data o btained from clinical anthropometry were compared for the involved and the uninvolved sides. A three-dimensional reconstruction was possible in 20 cases. The statistical correlation between the basal angles (na sion-pterional, nasion-petrosal, nasion-clino-basion, and zygomatic an gles) of the involved and uninvolved sides allows a new nosographic id entification of this complex malformation.