Abstract

DIAGNOSING CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS – “THE EARLIER THE BETTER” – A CASE STUDY

Shalimol U. S.*, K. T. Moly, Adithya Binesh, Aadhya Aji, Abhinav Babu and Aiswarya Hari

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Abstract

Craniosynostosis is a developmental craniofacial anomaly, resulting in impairment of brain development and abnormally shaped skull. The main cause of craniosynostosis is premature closure of one or more cranial sutures. Delayed diagnosis be associated with abnormalities in brain development including raised intracranial pressure and neurocognitive development impaiments. A descriptive phenomology approach was used to collect data from parents of children, children who was diagnosed with craniosynostosis after the age of 10 years and above by the physician were included in the study. The collected verbatim was transcribed into meaningful inference. Data was collected till data saturation from series of four patients. The major reason identified were Majority with Lack of knowledge about the disease, then a small majority expressed financial constrains for treatment, few were anxious about the outcome, a few reported lack of awareness among health care professional regarding the disease, Societal stigma of the disease.

Keywords: Craniosynostosis, Crouzons syndrome, Aperts syndrome, development, diagnosis, treatment.