Craniofacial growth in shunt-treated hydrocephalics: a four-year roentgenocephalometric follow-up study

✍ Scribed by J. Å. Huggare; T. Kantomaa; O. Rönning; W. Serlo

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 298 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0256-7040
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00298441

✦ Synopsis

The craniofacial growth of 24 shunt-treated hydrocephalics aged 5-15 years was evaluated over a 4-year period, by comparing changes in linear and angular cephalometric variables with those of an age- and sex-matched control group. The main findings were increased calvarial thickness, increased cranial base flexure, superior displacement of the sella, and a tendency for the gonial angle to remain more obtuse in the shunt-treated patients. As craniofacial growth in the latter differed only slightly from that observed in the controls, the deviations in facial morphology observed in a previous cross-sectional study of shunt-treated hydrocephalics can be taken to represent a long-term effect of the shunt treatment.