Kolkata, Jan 29 - Craniosynostosis, a rare skull disorder in newborns in India, can now be successfully treated with surgery based on 3-D imaging, doctors said here Tuesday.
With one in 2,000 to 2,500 infants being diagnosed with craniosynostosis in India, which has life altering complications, such advanced surgeries based on 3-D imaging are the best options available in the country, said Richa S. Debgupta, facility director of Fortis Hospitals, Kolkata, that recently performed such a surgery on a six-month-old.
Craniosynostosisis is a birth defect that causes one or more sutures on a baby's skull to close earlier than normal. This results in increased pressure inside the brain, which leads to facial deformities and blindness if not treated properly.
Due to increasing intracranial pressure, the forehead does not grow fully. The skull would be defective and distorted and loss of vision would result eventually. Eyeballs would also protrude abnormally, said Dr. Amitabha Chanda, consultant neurosurgeon at Fortis Hospitals who was part of the team that performed the surgery.
Usually the method used to treat this is to relieve the intracranial pressure through surgery. However, this does not eliminate facial distortion or blindness, Dr. Chanda said.
According to him, a surgical procedure based on a 3-D map of the skull can take care of such complications.
This type of surgery is a unique cranio-facial approach to such a problem. It helps the child lead a normal life, said Dr. Srijon Mukherjee, consultant maxillofacial surgeon at Fortis Hospital here.
