Craniosynostosis

How is craniosynostosis diagnosed?

Many children with craniosynostosis display visible symptoms—namely, a misshapen, enlarged or asymmetrical head and skull—at birth. Other times, a child’s craniosynostosis is diagnosed during a routine physical examination. 

Once an initial finding of craniosynostosis is made, your clinician may take the following steps to confirm the diagnosis:

• obtaining a full family medical history
• determining whether your child is experiencing any developmental delays or other problems in meeting age-appropriate milestones
• measuring the circumference of your child’s head and plotting these measurements on a graph to detect unusual patterns
• ordering x-rays, pictures taken with small doses of radiation
• ordering a computed tomography (CT) scan, a non-invasive procedure using x-ray equipment and powerful computers to create detailed images of particular parts of the body