title: Craniosynostosis associated with neural tube defects: is there a causal association?
abstract: The majority of primary craniosynostosis cases are sporadic. Very few articles in the literature have described cases of primary craniosynostosis associated with neural tube defects (NTDs). This co-occurrence has been seen by most authors as just a coincidence. The authors report a clinical series of 4 patients of primary craniosynostosis associated with NTDs treated at their center. Among these 4 cases, 2 had lumbosacral myelomeningocele, 1 frontoethmoidal encephalocele and 1 had occipital encephalocele. Although the co-occurrence of craniosynostosis and NTD is said to be rare, there seems to exist a justified underlying explanation for the same. The NTD causes a decrease in intracranial pressure due to egress of cerebrospinal fluid in the malformed sac that results in a deficient cerebral impulse for cranial growth that might stimulate premature sutural fusion. Thus, all patients with NTDs should be thoroughly evaluated for this association and for possible surgical management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Sachin A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Borkar
authors.forename: Avijit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarkari
authors.forename: Ashok K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Mahapatra
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003398:Craniosynostoses / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D004677:Encephalocele / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008591:Meningomyelocele / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed