Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROM) After Endoscopic and Open Correction of Sagittal Suture Synostosis-In Comparison With Surgeons' and Lay Persons' Assessment.

OBJECTIVE

The presented study compares the qualitative subjective outcome assessment after open and endoscopic-assisted correction of sagittal suture synostosis by 3 evaluating groups.

METHODS

The assessment of the postoperative outcome of 3 groups-parents, surgeons and lay persons ("neutrals")-was evaluated by answering items of a patient-reported outcome measurement (PROM) questionnaire. Furthermore, a subjective outcome assessment was performed by the group of surgeons with the ERN CRANIO photo score for sagittal synostosis.

RESULTS

The PROM assessment of all 3 evaluating groups demonstrated a significant reduction of the severity of the sagittal synostosis phenotype after open and endoscopic-assisted correction without any difference between both techniques. Although there was a significant correlation of the outcome assessment of all 3 groups, parents scored the postoperative phenotype significantly better than the group of surgeons and "neutrals". The assessment by the 3 evaluating groups showed a significant correlation, which was highest between the groups of surgeons and the groups of "neutrals" Correspondingly, there was a significant improvement of the ERN CRANIO photo score by the group of surgeons without any difference between both operative techniques and a high correlation between the PROM and the ERN Cranio photo score assessment by the surgeons.

CONCLUSION

Both open and endoscopic-assisted correction of sagittal suture synostosis provided significant improvement of the phenotype in the PROM assessment of parents, surgeons and "neutrals" without difference between the 2 operative techniques. The combination of PROM assessment by parents and the ERN CRANIO photo score evaluation performed by health care professionals offers an effective assessment for subjective qualitative judgment of the severity of sagittal synostosis.