Craniosynostosis and childbirth

The current management of craniosynostosis is focussed on an affected child who presents with abnormality of the head shape shortly after birth. We report four cases of non-syndromic craniosynostosis, recently seen in a 4-month period, presenting to the Australian Craniofacial Unit (ACFU) where all the mothers had prolonged and difficult labour. This included emergency caesarian section in two cases, and perineal repair in the other two cases. Interestingly, all these women had undergone pre-natal ultrasound examination and critical retrospective review highlighted that craniosynostosis could be observed in their children pre-natally. These cases highlight that children with craniosynostosis at birth can be associated with morbidity of both mother and her child, but this may be preventable as careful review of an ante-natal ultrasound examination tends to reveal craniosynostosis.