Background/introduction
Craniosynostosis or craniostenosis is one of the most frequent craniofacial malformations of the child, due to the fusion and premature closure of one or more sutures of the skull, with consequent deformity and compression of the brain structures.
Craniosynostosis is the process of premature sutural closure, taking place during a period of continuing brain growth, whereas craniostenosis is the result of this process.
The premature fusion of the suture inhibits skull growth perpendicular to the affected sutures, leading to skull base asymmetry, changes in craniofacial...
Description of activity and work performed
We retrospectively reviewed 70 children with craniosynostosis (2019).
55 children underwent CT using a 64-layer multi-detector scanner (LightSpeed VCT 64, GE), without contrast medium. For 15 children, a 128-layer Siemens Definition Flash CT was used.
Most of the infants underwent CT during spontaneous sleep and only a minority performed the sedation exam.
The average age of the children examined is just under 1 year.
The retrospective study showed a huge variation in the acquisition parameters with CTDIvol varying from 3 mGy to 120 mGy, with...
Conclusion and recommendations
The CT quality analysis does not show important and significant differences between all scan series: the image quality parameters guarantee the expected levels defined on the Italian regulatory (D.Lvo 187/0). The reduction of kV and mA, as expected, causes an increase in noise which is however attenuated by the use of iterative reconstruction.
The recommended protocol is schematized in table 3.
The use of the iterative reconstruction technique, such as the Adaptive Statistical Iterative Reconstruction (ASIR) or SAFIRE (Sinogram affirmed Iterative Reconstruction), is mandatory.
The...
Personal/organisational information
M. Gentile; Rome/IT - nothing to disclose R. Calandrelli; Rome/IT - nothing to disclose A. Guidi; Anguillara Sabazia (RM)/IT - nothing to disclose L. Bonomo; Rome/IT - nothing to disclose C. Colosimo; Rome/IT - nothing to disclose A. Fidanzio; Rome/IT - nothing to disclose P. Polidori; Rome/IT - nothing to disclose
References
Quantitative analysis of cranial-orbital changes in infants with anterior synostotic plagiocephaly. CNSY-D-18-00169R1 Calandrelli R, D'Apolito G, Massimi L, Gaudino S, Visconti E, Pelo S, Di Rocco C, Colosimo C (2016);
Quantitative analysis of craniofacial dysmorphology in infants with anterior synostotic plagiocephaly. Childs Nerv Syst 32:2339-2349. doi:10.1007/s00381-016-3218-8;
Bertelsen TI (1958) The premature synostosis of the cranial sutures. Acta Ophthalmol Suppl 36:1-176;
Role of "major" and "minor" lambdoid arch sutures in posterior cranial fossa changes: mechanism of cerebellar tonsillar herniation in infants with multisutural craniosynostosis Calandrelli R,...