Perioperative Management and Outcomes of Pediatric Craniosynostosis Patients Undergoing Cranioplasty: A Retrospective Analysis

Cranioplasty is a major surgical procedure typically performed in children under 1 year of age, often associated with significant complications. The scientific literature on perioperative management for children with craniosynostosis undergoing cranioplasty is limited. The authors' objective was to retrospectively evaluate the management, complication rates, and outcomes among children undergoing cranioplasty at our institution. The authors conducted a single-center retrospective analysis of craniosynostosis children who underwent cranioplasty at Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori between 2009 and 2023. 102 children were studied. Median admission age was 307 days, 30.4% of patients had syndromic disease; 28.4% underwent multi-suture cranioplasty. Median blood loss was 225 ml, and 85% of patients required red blood cell transfusion. There was a significant difference neither in indexed blood loss between the single and the multi-suture groups nor in perioperative transfusion requirement. 93.2% of patients in the single-suture group were extubated upon completion of the procedure against 65.5% of multi-suture group. No deaths were recorded. All patients were admitted to the intensive care unit after surgery. 8.8% patients suffered at least one complication. Airway management was the most common (7.8% of patients), intraoperative blood loss >90% of estimated blood volume occurred in 4 (3.9%) patients, whereas 3 children (2.9%) developed intracranial hypertension. Syndromic patients exhibited a significantly higher incidence of perioperative complications. Managing children's cranioplasty perioperative care is challenging, especially in multi-suture and syndromic cases. These findings stress the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration, precise intraoperative management, and comprehensive postoperative monitoring.