title: Early Surgical Intervention for a Large Newborn Cephalohematoma.
abstract: Cephalohematomas in newborns are often managed nonsurgically and resolve within the first month of life. In cases of large hematomas (>7 cm) with delayed resorption and persistence over 4 weeks, these masses can often lead to complications of calcification, infection, or hyperbilirubinemia. We report a case of a 14-day-old child with a persistent, large, noncalcified cephalohematoma. After observation alone showed that the cephalohematoma increased in size, 100 ml of old blood was surgically evacuated on day 15 of life. The procedure required a small 1-cm incision and, unlike most large cephalohematomas evacuated after 1 month of observation, there were no signs of skull-deforming calcification observed. This case report presents the earliest evacuation of large noncalcified cephalohematomas in newborns ever reported in the literature, and suggests benefits of early surgical evacuation before 1 month of life.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md., USA.
authors.forename: Chikezie I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Eseonu
authors.forename: Amanda N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Sacino
authors.forename: Edward S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Ahn
mesh_terms: D001847:Bone Diseases / Q000151:congenital*; D002114:Calcinosis; D006406:Hematoma / Q000151:congenital*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D012886:Skull