Newborns’ Cranial Vault: Clinical Anatomy and Authors’ Perspective

Abstract

Cranial vault is the case surrounding the brain. Its structure differs in newborns than in adults in some aspects. Such differences should be clear for both health and family members. Moreover, the anatomy and embryology of fetal skull take a little attention in the previous literature and textbooks. Therefore, this short review aimed to clarify some aspects of anatomy and clinical importance of cranial vault features in newborns. The newborn vault is formed of multiple separate flat bones connected by fibrous tissues with wide soft gaps called fontanelles. Development of bones of skull vault is closely correlated with the expanding growth of the underlying brain. Such brain shouldn't be struggled by continuous tightening of the newborns' vault. Also, the newborn skull could be affected even by a fixed sleeping position.

MR Imaging in Unilateral Hydrocephalus in Adults

“…The congenital and adult variants of presentation are reported in these cases and congenital hydrocephalus which is mostly bilateral may have variable prenatal causes such as obstruction of aqueduct of Sylvius, congenital malformations of Dandy-Walker or Arnold-Chiari and infection involving the central nervous system, especially congenital toxoplasmosis and cytomegalovirus [3,9,[11][12][13]. Hegazy and Hegazy stated that distension of brain ventricles of hydrocephalus before cranial suture closure could result in enlargement of the skull size, however, after closure such as in our case, it might press the nervous tissue resulting in neurological manifestations [1,2].…”

“…Unilateral hydrocephalous implies to dilation of one of the lateral ventricles which may be progressive in nature resulting in compression of the cerebral nervous tissues [1,2]. Idiopathic occlusion seen at the level of foramen of Monro is the most common cause, however, underlying cause may be congenital web, haemorrhage, neoplasm, vascular anomalies, infection, trauma etc [3,4].…”

The emergence of the calvarial hematopoietic niche in health and disease

“…The calvarium is classified as a diploic bone, consisting of the external and internal laminae (also known as inner and outer tables). In between these two laminae, lies a layer of trabecular bone known as the diploë 3 . This layer houses the hematopoietic stem cell niche, which is perivascular and created by both mesenchymal stromal stem cells (MSSC) and endothelial cells 4 …”

“…In between these two laminae, lies a layer of trabecular bone known as the diploë. 3 This layer houses the hematopoietic stem cell niche, which is perivascular and created by both mesenchymal stromal stem cells (MSSC) and endothelial cells. 4 Bone marrow endothelial cells (BMECs) comprise the vascular network supporting and forming this hematopoietic niche, and a zonation is present whereby BMECs are either arterial BMECs (aBMECs) or sinusoidal BMECs (sBMECs).…”

Using Sensitivity Analysis to Develop a Validated Computational Model of Post-operative Calvarial Growth in Sagittal Craniosynostosis

“…The cranium consists of several bones that are connected via cranial joints or sutures. Sutures facilitate the birth and accommodate the radial expansion of the brain during infancy ( Anatole and Dekaban, 1977 ; Morriss-Kay and Wilkie, 2005 ; Lieberman, 2011 ; Richtsmeier and Flaherty, 2013 ; Jin et al, 2016 ; Adigun and Al-Dhahir, 2017 ; Hegazy and Hegazy, 2018 ). Early fusion of the sutures is a medical condition called craniosynostosis with the most common form of this condition being the early fusion of the sagittal suture i.e., occurring in ca.…”