Tumor-related epilepsy in children.

A 10-year retrospective review of 15 children with cerebral tumors and seizures was conducted to study the factors responsible for delay in the diagnosis of tumors and to assess outcome following surgery. Mean duration of seizures prior to surgery was 37 months. Ninety-three percent had no focal neurologic deficits.

Craniofacial correction of giant frontoethmoidal encephalomeningocele.

The surgical treatment of a very large anterior encephalocele in an infant is presented. Because of the large size of the encephalocele, a combined transfacial-transcranial approach was used for correction of the associated intracranial, cranioorbitonasal bone, and facial skin deformities.

Chiari III malformation treated with CSF diversion and delayed surgical closure.

Chiari III malformations are extremely rare hindbrain malformations that are associated with a high early mortality rate, or severe neurologic deficits in the survivors. The preferred treatment is early operative closure and CSF shunting. We report a case of a newborn infant with a Chiari III malformation with displacement of the brainstem and cerebellum into the cervical encephalocele which precluded immediate operative closure of the defect.

Cloacal exstrophy: the neurological implications.

Congenital anomalies commonly accompany the abdominal wall defects of cloacal exstrophy with an incidence as high as 100% in some series. The urological literature cites an incidence of vertebral and/or spinal cord anomalies in 75% of cases. We reviewed the records of the 17 patients with cloacal exstrophy treated at our institution since 1978.

Cranial reconstruction in osteogenesis imperfecta.

Although osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is recognized as a cause of craniosynostosis, therapeutic endeavors have not been reported. We present an 8-month-old girl with type 3 OI, in whom bilateral occipital flattening, biparietal widening, and frontal narrowing were effectively managed with a combined surgical release and reconstruction and molding cap therapy. The quality of the calvarial bone in OI requires a modified approach to the conventional bone techniques commonly used in the correction of craniosynostosis deformities.