Endoscopic craniectomy for early correction of craniosynostosis.

Twelve patients between 0.4 and 7.8 months of age were treated by an endoscopic approach to strip craniectomy. Nine patients had sagittal suture involvement. Two patients had a single unilateral lambdoid suture synostosis, and one patient had a combination of a right coronal synostosis and a metopic synostosis. Postoperatively, all patients were placed in cranial remodeling helmets and the results showed that the estimated blood loss ranged from 5 cc to 150 cc, with blood transfusion required in only one patient. All patients were discharged from the hospital by day 2, and all patients had an improvement in their cranial head shape. The specific technique of using the endoscope to aid in performing a strip craniectomy will be discussed. Nine endoscopically treated patients with the diagnosis of sagittal suture synostosis were compared with nine patients treated by using the Marchac remodeling techniques. The mean operative time (1.6 hours versus 3.5 hours), estimated blood loss (43 cc versus 168 cc), hospital costs ($11,671 versus $36,685), and length of stay (1.16 days versus 5.1 days) were less by using the endoscopic technique. All nine patients treated by using the Marchac technique required a blood transfusion, whereas only one patient was transfused in the endoscopically treated group.