Repair of a congenital cranial defect in a newborn with autologous calvarial bone.

A case is reported of early repair of a cranial defect associated with aplasia cutis congenita using a full-thickness autologous calvarial graft. New bone regenerated to fill the defect at the donor site, such that by 6 weeks of life no calvarial defects remained. This simple technique is recommended as an alternative to a delayed acrylic or split cranial bone cranioplasty as a second operation. A similar technique could be considered for other congenital cranial defects, such as those associated with encephaloceles or bilateral parietal foramina.