Operative treatment of coronal craniosynostosis: 20 years of experience.

Background: To investigate the effect on and risk in coronal synostosis surgery of fronto-orbital advancement.

Methods: One hundred sixty-five cases of coronal synostosis were retrospectively reviewed, including their clinical manifestations, computed tomography scans, operations, operative complications, and follow-up results.

Results: Of the 165 cases, 111 were male and 54 were female, with a mean age of 12.1 months. Unilateral coronal synostosis was encountered in 38 cases and bilateral in 127, 45 of which were accompanied by Crouzon syndrome. All cases underwent fronto-orbital advancement. After the operation, 1 patient died from intracranial hemorrhage and 5 developed craniospinal fluid leak. No reoperation was necessary for coronal synostosis relapse in a follow-up study from 3 months to 5 years.

Conclusions: Fronto-orbital advancement is an effective and safe technique for coronal synostosis. However, longer follow-up is required to rectify the final functional and aesthetic results of craniofacial architecture.