Jenny F. Yang

The impact of age at surgery on long-term neuropsychological outcomes in sagittal craniosynostosis.

Background: The relationship between surgical age and long-term neuropsychological outcomes in sagittal-suture craniosynostosis remains equivocal. Whole-vault cranioplasty and strip craniectomy are performed at various times in individuals with sagittal-suture craniosynostosis. This study used comprehensive neurological testing to examine the relationship between age at time of surgery and long-term neuropsychological function. Methods: Seventy sagittal-suture craniosynostosis patients who had previously undergone either whole-vault cranioplasty or strip craniectomy were examined divided into three groups: treatment before 6 months (n = 41), between 6 and 12 months (n = 21), and after 12 months (n = 8). To examine long-term cognitive functioning, participants between the ages of 5 and 25 years underwent neurodevelopmental tests to evaluate intelligence, achievement, and learning disabilities. Results: Compared with those treated between 6 and 12 months and after 12 months, patients who underwent surgery before 6 months demonstrated higher full-scale IQ (p < 0.01) and verbal IQ (p < 0.01). Patients who received surgery before 6 months also demonstrated superior abilities in word reading (p < 0.01), reading comprehension (p < 0.01), spelling (p < 0.01), and numerical operations (p < 0.05) relative to those who had surgery between 6 and 12 months old. A statistically significant higher percentage of patients treated after 6 months had one or more reading-related learning disabilities as compared with those undergoing earlier surgery. Conclusions: This study suggests that surgery before 6 months old results in improved long-term neurological outcomes. Future studies should examine how the technique of surgery impacts these neuropsychological measures. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.

Two locus inheritance of non-syndromic midline craniosynostosis via rare SMAD6 and common BMP2 alleles

Premature fusion of the cranial sutures (craniosynostosis), affecting 1 in 2000 newborns, is treated surgically in infancy to prevent adverse neurologic outcomes. To identify mutations contributing to common non-syndromic midline (sagittal and metopic) craniosynostosis, we performed exome sequencing of 132 parent-offspring trios and 59 additional probands. Thirteen probands (7%) had damaging de novo or rare transmitted mutations in SMAD6, an inhibitor of BMP – induced osteoblast differentiation (p<10−20). SMAD6 mutations nonetheless showed striking incomplete penetrance (<60%). Genotypes of a common variant near BMP2 that is strongly associated with midline craniosynostosis explained nearly all the phenotypic variation in these kindreds, with highly significant evidence of genetic interaction between these loci via both association and analysis of linkage. This epistatic interaction of rare and common variants defines the most frequent cause of midline craniosynostosis and has implications for the genetic basis of other diseases. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20125.001

Normalization of brain morphology after surgery in sagittal craniosynostosis

OBJECT Nonsyndromic craniosynostosis (NSC) is associated with significant learning disability later in life. Surgical reconstruction is typically performed before 1 year of age to correct the cranial vault morphology and to allow for normalized brain growth with the goal of improving cognitive function. Yet, no studies have assessed to what extent normalized brain growth is actually achieved. Recent advances in MRI have allowed for automated methods of objectively assessing subtle and pronounced brain morphological differences. The authors used one such technique, deformation-based morphometry (DBM) Jacobian mapping, to determine how previously treated adolescents with sagittal NSC (sNSC) significantly differ in brain anatomy compared with healthy matched controls up to 11.5 years after surgery. METHODS Eight adolescent patients with sNSC, previously treated via whole-vault cranioplasty at a mean age of 7 months, and 8 age- and IQ-matched control subjects without craniosynostosis (mean age for both groups = 12.3 years), underwent functional 3-T MRI. Statistically significant group tissue-volume differences were assessed using DBM, a whole-brain technique that estimates morphological differences between 2 groups at each voxel (p < 0.01). Group-wise Jacobian volume maps were generated using a spacing of 1.5 mm and a resolution of 1.05 × 1.05 × 1.05 mm(3). RESULTS There were no significant areas of volume reduction or expansion in any brain areas in adolescents with sNSC compared with controls at a significance level of p < 0.01. At the more liberal threshold of p < 0.05, two areas of brain expansion extending anteroposteriorly in the right temporooccipital and left frontoparietal regions appeared in patients with sNSC compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS Compared with previous reports on untreated infants with sNSC, adolescents with sNSC in this cohort had few areas of brain dysmorphology many years after surgery. This result suggests that comprehensive cranioplasty performed at an early age offers substantial brain normalization by adolescence, but also that some effects of vault constriction may still persist after treatment. Specifically, few areas of expansion in frontoparietal and temporooccipital regions may persist. Overall, data from this small cohort support the primary goal of surgery in allowing for more normalized brain growth. Larger samples, and correlating degree of normalization with cognitive performance in NSC, are warranted.

The Severity of Deformity in Metopic Craniosynostosis Is Correlated with the Degree of Neurologic Dysfunction

Background: In recent years, metopic synostosis has represented up to 25 percent of all nonsyndromic craniosynostosis cases, manifesting with varying degrees of trigonocephaly. It is unknown whether the degree of severity of anterior dysmorphology is proportionate to neurologic dysfunction. This knowledge is essential to guide future surgical treatment recommendations. Given the reported correlation of abnormal auditory processing with future language dysfunction and poorer academic performance in craniosynostosis patients, the present study aims to evaluate auditory processing in preoperative patients with moderate and severe metopic synostosis, and in control infants, to discern the neurologic risk carried by different severities of trigonocephaly. Methods: Thirty-eight infants underwent evaluation of auditory processing: nine patients with severe metopic synostosis, seven with moderate metopic synostosis, and 22 controls. Brain activity was recorded by electroencephalography while the participants listened to language-based stimuli. Electroencephalographic data were analyzed to extract event-related potentials evoked by the speech sounds. Results: Severe metopic synostosis patients demonstrated significantly attenuated event-related potential responses in the left frontal scalp region overlying the left frontal lobe compared with controls (p < 0.05). The moderate metopic synostosis patients did not show significantly different language processing compared to the control infants or the severe metopic synostosis patients in the frontal scalp region. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that untreated severe metopic synostosis is associated with reduced language response in the frontal cortex. Less severe (moderate) forms are indeterminate, and mild forms do not show calculable irregularity by the event-related potential method of analysis. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Risk, II.

The Etiology of Neuronal Development in Craniosynostosis: A Working Hypothesis

Craniosynostosis is one of the most common craniofacial conditions treated by neurologic and plastic surgeons. In addition to disfigurement, children with craniosynostosis experience significant cognitive dysfunction later in life. Surgery is performed in infancy to correct skull deformity; however, the field is at a crossroads regarding the best approach for correction. Since the cause of brain dysfunction in these patients has remained uncertain, the role and type of surgery might have in attenuating the later-observed cognitive deficits through impact on the brain has been unclear. Recently, however, advances in imaging such as event-related potentials, diffusion tensor imaging, and functional MRI, in conjunction with more robust clinical studies, are providing important insight into the potential etiologies of brain dysfunction in syndromic and nonsyndromic craniosynostosis patients. This review aims to outline the cause(s) of such brain dysfunction including the role extrinsic vault constriction might have on brain development and the current evidence for an intrinsic modular developmental error in brain development. Illuminating the cause of brain dysfunction will identify the role of surgery can play in improving observed functional deficits and thus direct optimal primary and adjuvant treatment.

Neruocognitive Effects of Metopic Synostosis Based on Severity of Deformity

INTRODUCTION: In recent years, metopic synostosis (MSO) has represented up to 25% of all non-syndromic craniosynostosis cases, manifesting with varying degrees of trigonocephaly, bitemporal narrowing, and orbital deformity. The severity of MSO can be classified as moderate or severe based on the endocranial bifrontal angle (EBA), and degree of orbitofrontal deformity. However, it is unknown whether the degree of severity of anterior dysmorphology is proportionate to neurological dysfunction.

Abstract: Direct Brain Recordings in Craniosynostosis Can Predict Future Language Development

BACKGROUND: The mid-tibia region is a challenging reconstructive region given the paucity of soft tissue options and local muscle flaps available for reconstruction. A free-tissue transfer may not be an option in all cases due to patient comorbid conditions, personal preferences or operative resources availability. An extended medial gastrocnemius rotational flap may provide a safe, versatile and effective treatment option in the mid tibia region.

Abstract: Altered Brain Functional Connectivity Varies By Form of Craniosynostosis

Suday, O cber 8, 2017 INTRODUCTION: Explantation after prosthetic breast reconstruction may be performed due to various reasons including postoperative complications and patient request. The goals of this study were (1) to characterize a cohort of patients with device explantation after prosthetic breast reconstruction, (2) to perform a time based analysis of explantation, (3) to identify reasons for premature explantation, and (4) to review the bacteriology associated with explanted devices.

Abstract 121: Whole-Brain Intrinsic Connectivity in Nonsyndromic Craniosynostosis

PURPOSE: Nonsyndromic craniosynostosis (NSC) has been associated with a greater risk of neurocognitive aberrations such as learning disorders, memory and attention deficits, and visuospatial abilities. Previously, our group has performed resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) studies in patients with sagittal NSC (SSO), and has found altered functional connectivity that may underlie some of the neurocognitive deficits in these patients. This study seeks to determine if different forms of NSC, including metopic synostosis (MSO) and unilateral coronal synostosis (UCS), result in different aberrations of functional brain connectivity.

Abstract 24: Two Locus Inheritance of Non-Syndromic Midline Craniosynostosis Via Rare SMAD6 and Common BMP2 Alleles

PURPOSE: More than 30,000 people receive organ transplants every year in the US. Vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) is the newest realm of solid organ transplantation. The skin component of VCA is highly antigenic and mandates high doses of systemic immunosuppressive drugs. Oral dosing of immunosuppressive drugs such as tacrolimus (TAC), rapamycin (Rapa), and mycophenolic acid (MPA) leads to fluctuating, erratic, or unpredictable blood levels risking toxicity or lack of efficacy. We propose a drug delivery platform that can not only provide sustained drug release but also on-cue triggered drug release upon ultrasound stimulation (USS) in graft tissues with stable, low blood levels, minimizing overall drug exposure and facilitating long-term VCA survival with no systemic complications.