State of the art in craniofacial surgery: Nonsyndromic craniosynostosis

Craniosynostosis refers to the premature fusion of one of the six major sut ures of the cranial vault. Functionally, craniosynostosis may be defined as the premature conversion of the dynamic region of growth and resorption be tween two adjacent bones of the cranium into a static region of bony union. Molecular analysis has blurred the traditional categories of nonsyndromic and syndromic synostosis to some extent, but, in general, the distinctions between the two groups still hold true. The complexity of the congenital an omalies may be limited with the former, whereas the latter usually requires reoperations and correction of the facial skeleton, This article briefly o utlines the characteristic deformities produced from nonsyndromic craniosyn ostosis, Various approaches to surgical correction of the deformities are d escribed. Finally, new biomaterials that are used in the correction of nons yndromic craniosynostosis are reviewed.