A Large Calvarial Bone Defect in a Child: Osseointegration of an Implant.

Background: This original report describes the outcome of a cranioplasty at long-term follow-up. A large calvarial bone defect of a child was reconstructed with a bioactive and biostable nonmetallic implant.

Case Description: In a child with infantile fibrosarcoma of occipital bone, the malignancy was removed at 2.5 years of age, and the defect site was reconstructed with an onlay glass fiber-reinforced composite-bioactive glass implant. The follow-up examination at 5 years 7 months showed no signs of tumor recurrence. During the follow-up period, the contour of the reconstructed area followed skull anatomic development. Computed tomography demonstrated considerably large areas (approximately 70% of the total area) of bone ongrowth to the peridural surface of the implant.

Conclusions: In the future, a synthetic cranioplasty material that is able to integrate with cranial bone may be considered superior to cryopreserved bone grafts in younger age groups.