Outcomes of endoscopic suturectomy with postoperative helmet therapy in bilateral coronal craniosynostosis

Objective: Historically, bilateral frontoorbital advancement (FOA) has been the keystone for treatment of turribrachycephaly caused by bilateral coronal synostosis. Early endoscopic suturectomy has become a popular technique for treatment of single-suture synostosis, with acceptable results and minimal perioperative morbidity. Boston Children's Hospital has adopted this method of treating early-presenting cases of bilateral coronal synostosis. Methods: A retrospective review of patients with bilateral coronal craniosynostosis who were treated with endoscopic suturectomy between 2005 and 2012 was completed. Patients were operated on between 1 and 4 months of age. Hospital records were reviewed for perioperative morbidity, length of stay, head circumference and cephalic indices, and the need for further surgery. Results: Eighteen patients were identified, 8 males and 10 females, with a mean age at surgery of 2.6 months (range 1-4 months). Nine patients had syndromic craniosynostosis. The mean duration of surgery was 73.3 minutes (range 50-93 minutes). The mean blood loss was 40 ml (range 20-100 ml), and 2 patients needed a blood transfusion. The mean duration of hospital stay was 1.2 days (range 1-2 days). There was 1 major complication in the form of a CSF leak. The mean follow-up was 37 months (range 6-102 months). Eleven percent of nonsyndromic patients required a subsequent FOA; 55.6% of syndromic patients underwent FOA. The head circumference percentiles and cephalic indices improved significantly. Conclusions: Early endoscopic suturectomy successfully treats the majority of patients with bilateral coronal synostosis, and affords a short procedure time, a brief hospital stay, and an expedited recovery. Close follow-up is needed to detect patients who will require a secondary FOA due to progressive suture fusion or resynostosis of the released coronal sutures.