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  • Title: Facial asymmetry correction with moulded helmet therapy in infants with deformational skull base plagiocephaly.
    Author: Kreutz M, Fitze B, Blecher C, Marcello A, Simon R, Cremer R, Zeilhofer HF, Kunz C, Mayr J.
    Journal: J Craniomaxillofac Surg; 2018 Jan; 46(1):28-34. PubMed ID: 29221913.
    Abstract:
    PURPOSE: The recommendation issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics in the early 1990s to position infants on their back during sleep to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has dramatically reduced the number of deaths due to SIDS but has also markedly increased the prevalence of positional skull deformation in infants. Deformation of the base of the skull occurs predominantly in very severe deformational plagiocephaly and is accompanied by facial asymmetry, as well as an altered ear position, called ear shift. Moulded helmet therapy has become an accepted treatment strategy for infants with deformational plagiocephaly. The aim of this study was to determine whether facial asymmetry could be corrected by moulded helmet therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective, single-centre study, we analysed facial asymmetry of 71 infants with severe deformational plagiocephaly with or without deformational brachycephaly who were undergoing moulded helmet therapy between 2009 and 2013. Computer-assisted, three-dimensional, soft-tissue photographic scanning was used to record the head shape before and after moulded helmet therapy. The distance between two landmarks in the midline of the face (i.e., root of the nose and nasal septum) and the right and left tragus were measured on computer-generated indirect and objective 3D photogrammetry images. A quotient was calculated between the two right- and left-sided distances to the midline. Quotients were compared before and after moulded helmet therapy. Infants without any therapy served as a control group. RESULTS: The median age of the infants before onset of moulded helmet therapy was 5 months (range 3-16 months). The median duration of moulded helmet therapy was 5 months (range 1-16 months). Comparison of the pre- and post-treatment quotients of the left vs. right distances measured between the tragus and root of the nose (n = 71) and nasal septum (n = 71) revealed a significant reduction of the asymmetry (Tragus-Nasion-Line Quotient: 0.045-0.022; p < 0.0001; Tragus-Subnasale-Line Quotient: 0.045-0.021; p < 0.0001). The control group without treatment showed no significant change in the quotient (Tragus-Nasion-Line Quotient no helmet: 0.049-0.055/Tragus-Subnasale-Line Quotient no helmet: 0.039-0.055). CONCLUSION: Moulded helmet therapy can correct facial symmetry in infants with deformational plagiocephaly and associated facial and basal skull asymmetry.
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