Basicranial Changes in Shunt-treated Hydrocephalic Children- A Two-year Report

Abstract

changes were studied in a sample of 29 shunt-treated hy-drocephalics, aged 7 to 18 years, by analyzing differences in angular relationships between structures seen on roentgenologic cephalo-grams taken at intervals of about 2 years following initial examination. In addition, the natural head position was recorded in 24 subjects at a follow-up examination. The cranial base among the boys showed increased flexure during the follow-up period. This finding was reflected in a decrease in the angle between the sphenoidal and clival planes and that of the nasion-selIa-basion. Head posture, calculated in terms of the craniovertical and cervicohorizontal angles, was more forwardly flexed in the shunt—treated subjects than in the corresponding controls. KEY WORDS: hydrocephalus, cranial base, craniofacial development, head posture. As an intermediate structure, the cranial base divides the human skull into its neural and facial components. From a developmental point of View, the shape of the cranial base is regarded as one of the factors determining dentofacial form (Enlow, 1975). The inclination of the cli-vus for example appears to be related to the position of the glenoid fossa and hence to the spatial relations of the mandible (