Factors affecting the outcome of patients undergoing corrective surgery for craniosynostosis: a retrospective analysis of 95 cases.

BACKGROUND

Surgical procedures for correction of craniosynostosis are often performed in pediatric patients who have a small blood volume; it represents major surgery. Literature is scarce on factors affecting blood loss, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stay in these patients.

OBJECTIVES

To identify the factors which directly affect the outcome of craniosynostosis surgery.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A detailed review of records pertaining to preanesthetic evaluation, associated anomalies, intraoperative course, and postoperative follow-up was done for patients who underwent craniosynostosis surgery between June 2000 and June 2010. The correlation between different variables was evaluated using Spearman's rank correlation.

RESULTS

During the study period 95 patients (mean age 29 months, range: 3 months-13 years) underwent corrective surgery for craniosynostosis. Hospital stay was found to be significantly associated with type of surgery and postoperative complications (P<0.001) Factors such as number of associated medical conditions, number of postoperative complications, type of induction of anesthesia, duration of surgery, type of recovery affected the ICU stay in these patients (P = 0.01).

CONCLUSION

The outcome of patients undergoing craniosynostosis in terms of ICU and hospital stay is affected by the number of medical and postoperative conditions, type of anesthesia induction, duration of surgery and type of recovery.