A myelomeningocele associated with the ArnoldChiari malformation is now one of the commonest neonatal surgical emergencies. Hydrocephalus used to be the main cause of death in these infants during the first year of life, but since the advent of ventriculo-atrial shunting procedures the mortality and morbidity have improved. However, the management of the hydrocephalus still remains a serious pr...

A prospective study was made of 94 real-time sonographic sector scans of 56 neonates in a 6 month period. The examinations were performed using the anterior fontanelle as an acoustic window. In 17 cases, computed tomography (CT) head scans were available for comparison. In no case did the CT and sonographic examination disagree as to the size of the lateral ventricles. Abnormalities detected by...

An 18-month-old boy presented with abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and poor appetite for 6 days. He had been given a multivitamin preparation once daily, containing 50.000 IU of vitamin D and 10.000 IU of vitamin A for a wide anterior fontanelle for about three months. He presented with hypercalcemia, low levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH), and very high serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) ...

In order to define the changes in intracranial pressure which occur during tracheal intubation in young infants, a Ladd transducer was used to monitor anterior fontanelle pressure (AFP) non-invasively in awake (group 1, n = 14) and anaesthetized (group 2, n = 10) infants during intubation of the trachea. Heart rate and systolic arterial pressure were also recorded. In quiet, undisturbed infants...

Knowledge of intracranial pressure may be important in many clinical situations in neonates and young infants. The best way to obtain this information would be a non-traumatic procedure. In order to test the reliability of a new fontanometer, the Rotterdam teletransducer, 25 simultaneous measurements of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure and anterior fontanelle pressure (AFP) were performed. Me...

The development of the mammalian skull is a complex process that requires multiple tissue interactions and a balance of growth and differentiation. Disrupting this balance can lead to changes in the shape and size of skull bones, which can have serious clinical implications. For example, insufficient ossification of the bony elements leads to enlarged anterior fontanelles and reduced mechanical...

Introduction: Infection is the most common complication encountered after ventriculoperitoneal shunt. The AIMS of this study to evaluate effectiveness antibiotic therapy with protocol in prevention post-operative infections shunt our city. Patients and methods: We retrospectively 20 hydrocephalus cases one year. They were operated through classic VP Shunt insertion technique adopted for implant...

One of the well-known characteristic skeletal findings in athyreosis is retardation of bone maturation, the most common manifestations of which are delayed appearance of ossification centres of the carpal bones and the closure of the anterior fontanelle. Other evidences of this retardation of bone maturation have, however, been reported more recently and modern methods of research have shed new...

Case 1. A male infant, birth weight 6 lb. 6 oz. (2,891 g.), had a lumbar meningomyelocele which was repaired on the second day of life. At the age of 10 days, the infant's anterior fontanelle was tense and an air ventriculogram showed some dilatation of the lateral ventricles. However, subsequent head growth was not excessive, and by 5 months the skull circumference was 171 in. (44 cm.). At the...