Normal Head Shape Parameters in the First 2 Years of Life and Effect of Helmet Therapy

Abstract

Objective The treatment of a positional head deformity in infancy is a controversial issue. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of helmet therapy on positional plagiocephaly and brachycephaly. Patients and Methods We determined cranial vault shape parameters in 348 healthy children during the second year of life, combined them with preexisting data from more than 400 subjects younger than 12 months, and related retrospectively the data of 1,531 children obtained before and after treatment with individual molding helmets to these newly generated normative values. Results The number of subjects with cranial vault asymmetry values > 97th percentile decreased by 85.5% from 1,361 before to 197 (p < 0.01) after helmet therapy, while the number of individuals with cranial vault asymmetry index values > 97th percentile declined by 87.7% from 1,353 to 167 (p < 0.01). Similarly, the number of infants with cranial index values > 97th percentile diminished by 66.8% from 885 to 294 (p < 0.01). Conclusions These findings do not finally prove, but they support the idea that helmet treatment is effective and meaningful in preventing permanent head deformities in infants with severe deformation. The normative anthropometric data generated in this study will allow investigating the natural course and effects of various therapies on infant cranial shape objectively.

Prevalence of positional skull deformities in 530 premature infants with a corrected age of up to 6 months: a multicenter study

“…Diagnostic criteria were based on those specified in the Handbook of Physical Measurements and those adopted in the study by Looman and Wilbrand [9, 19, 21]. The diagnostic criteria for plagiocephaly were as follows: abnormal, DD ≥ 3 mm; mild, 3 mm ≤ DD < 10 mm; moderate, 10 mm ≤ DD < 12 mm; and severe, DD ≥ 12 mm.…”

“…Based on extensive studies, Rossi et al established the international criteria for PD by utilizing biomathematics and medical statistics in 1976 [8]. Subsequently, some studies proposed diagnostic criteria for PD classification [9–12]. In comparison, very few studies have been conducted in Asia.…”

Denominator of Cranial Vault Asymmetry Index: Choosing Between Longer and Shorter Diagonal Lengths

“…We excluded 39 articles that did not list the CVAI denominator (including those without a long/short description, those with only the description “percent difference,” those with only the description “modified CVAI,” and those with the description “unaffected side”). Finally, 20 articles published from 8 institutions were organized 3–10. The institute with the highest number of publications (n=4) was the Department of Prosthetics-Orthotics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Texas, United States (using LD denominator) 4…”

“…A total of 30 original articles (Supplemental Table 1, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/SCS/E869) matched the inclusion criteria 3–32. There were 10 articles with LD denominators and 20 articles with SD denominators.…”

Automatic Detection of Pediatric Craniofacial Deformities using Convolutional Neural Networks

“…Given the recent advances in machine learning, especially in the field of deep learning, it is possible to leverage convolutional neural networks for semantic segmentation. Once the area of interest is segmented, different clinical parameters can be extracted and compared to the current standard in order to access the necessity of therapeutic intervention [3]. In this paper, we propose the use of deep and transfer learning to achieve highly accurate segmentation results.…”