Surgical effect of skull defect in children / 中华神经医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the clinical features, surgical treatments and treatment effects of children with skull defect.Methods:Sixty children with skull defect, admitted to our hospital from January 2010 to December 2020, were chosen in our study. These children were divided into encephalocele group ( n=28) and non-encephalocele group ( n=32) according to the imaging results (whether brain tissues were 1.5 cm higher than the bone window plane or not). The time and area of skull defect were compared between the two groups. Titanium mesh or polyether ether ketone material were used to repair the skull defect; 24 children without nerve fiber bundle distribution from encephalocele group underwent resection of the encephalocele tissues additionally. All children were followed up for 3-10 years in the outpatient department, and the prognoses of children from the two groups were evaluated by Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) one year after surgery. Results:As compared with the non-encephalocele group, children in the encephalocele group had significantly younger age accepted skull removal, significantly longer skull defect course, significantly higher incidence of epilepsy, significantly more common secondary changes in the brain tissues around the defect, but statistically smaller skull defect area ( P<0.05). There was no bleeding, severe edema, wound infection or cerebrospinal fluid leakage after surgery in both groups, and primary healing was achieved. In the encephalocele group, 16 children were complicated with epilepsy; 10 got complete seizure control, and 6 got seizure improvement. In the non-encephalocele group, 8 children were complicated with epilepsy; 6 got complete seizure control, and 2 got seizure improvement. Postoperative follow-up showed that GOS scores in the non-encephalocele group were significantly higher than those in encephalocele group ( P<0.05). Conclusion:As ompared with skull defect children without encephalocele, skull defect children with encephalocele have earlier defect age, longer course of disease, higher incidences of ventricular perforation malformation and epilepsy, and a relatively poorer prognosis.