New insights into the relationship between suture closure and craniofacial dysmorphology in sagittal nonsyndromic craniosynostosis.

Premature closure of the sagittal suture occurs as an isolated (nonsyndromic) birth defect or as a syndromic anomaly in combination with other congenital dysmorphologies. The genetic causes of sagittal nonsyndromic craniosynostosis (NSC) remain unknown. Although variation of the dysmorphic (scaphocephaly) skull shape of sagittal NSC cases has been acknowledged, this variation has not been quantitatively studied three-dimensionally (3D).