Complications and Long-Term Surgical Outcome in Craniosynostoses

The authors review the different complications of craniosynostoses, before, during, and after surgery, as well as during follow-up. Based on the literature and their experience, they discuss the factors leading to these complications, their management, and how their incidence could be reduced. The large array of different complications, occurring at different ages, and involving many medical and paramedical specialists, underline the importance of prolonged multidisciplinary follow-up in specialized centers. Knowledge of these complications is important in order to obtain the parents’ consent for these important surgeries. Consensual scales, quantifying the pre and postoperative morphological appearance as well as the postoperative complications, are being developed, and will undoubtedly help to assess the costs and benefits of surgery, as well as compare the different surgical techniques.