In a message dated 96-02-29 14:46:14 EST, you write:

>Kathy Kendall-Tackett Ph.D. LLLL
>Henniker New Hampshire
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date:    Thu, 29 Feb 1996 11:42:51 -0600
>From:    "katherine a. dettwyler" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Tribe of the flat heads
>
>Ruth Wilson writes:
>>Subject: head flattening Wall ST Journal
>>Feb 23 WALL ST JOURNAL Anybody see this article re: 400% increase in skull
>>surgeries to correct a new syndrome of skull flattening in infants
>>suspected of having a RARE condition called synostosis or early congenital
>>fissure closure and head flattening (posterior skull) THis astounding
>>increase in major surgeries have been done in huge numbers since 1992 !!!!
>
>
>Ruth, something is very odd about this.  A baby laid down to sleep on its
>belly has to turn it's head to the side, so it is still laying on the side
>of the skull.  You can see flat-headed people if you hang out where their
>are buys with military haircuts (like A&M) -- usually the right side is
>flatter than the left.  So it must be the immobility that leads to early
>suture closure?  I just popped next door to ask my colleague, who is a
>skeletal biologist who does research on prehistoric human skeletal remains,
>including the Caddo of Texas, who practiced purposive cranial deformation on
>their babies, and southwestern tribes where babies spent most of each day
>tied into a cradleboard and so end up with completely flat backs to their
>skulls.  He says none of these groups show an increase in cranial suture
>closure -- they just have funny-shaped heads.  And the ones in cradleboards
>would be like kids sleeping with wedges in being unable to move their heads
>around.
>
>I'll bet something else is going on, and IF there really is an increase in
>premature suture closure, it isn't due to the "back to sleep" issue.  Notice
>I said IF.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-------
>Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email:
>[log in to unmask]
>Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
>Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
>College Station, TX  77843-4352
>
>

I read these posts with interest, as my 6 month old has signs of early
craniosynostosis. Her sutures  haven't fused (and hopefully won't), but her
fontanels are already closed.  She has congenital CMV (I contracted the
disease in the first trimester and passed it on to her), so she is being
watched carefully anyway, but her head shape and size are getting extra
attention. I will say, however, that her head is a lovely, non- "tribe of the
flatheads" shape at this point!

My understanding is that, when a young child has severe craniosynostosis, the
head develops a ridge along the top. It doesn't become flat on the back, as
one might see in a baby who is frequently strapped to a cradleboard. Few
children are allowed to get to this point anymore. Most cases of
craniosynostosis are detected very early these days and the surgery to which
the previous post refers allows the head to be opened up so that skull and
brain can continue to develop properly. Within a few months after surgery,
one would never be able to tell that the child had suffered from the
condition. I would love to see the article on this subject from WSJ. The
increase seems huge, but it may be due to  better detection and safer,
earlier surgeries.

Katie Allison Granju
University of TN College of Law
Knoxville, TN