Doctors Rebuild Skull of Indiana Baby with Crouzon's Syndrome, Rare Genetic Deformity

May 21, 2010— -- Doctors at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital in Indianapolis reconstructed a skull of 5-month-old Kaydence Theriault, a girl who was born with a rare genetic disorder called Crouzon's syndrome.

Surgeons spent seven hours in surgery, and said they hope it will radically change how the world views the little girl.

Kaydence Theriault was one of triplets -- all diagnosed with Crouzon's. Only 1 in 16 million children have the disorder, which starts in the womb when the bones of the skull fuse too early in the development of a fetus.

The disorder can cause bulges in the head as the developing brain tries to find room to grow. Kaydence had an especially severe form.

"It's called a cloverleaf cranial deformity, and it's not typical for Crouzon," said Dr. Ronald Young II, the neurosurgeon in charge of Kaydence's care at Manning Hospital.

"When you look at the head from the front it has three bulges, like the three leaves of the clover," he said.

Doctors had to cut Kaydence's malformed skull into smaller pieces, then rearrange them to model a more natural head shape. Young said doctors rebuilt the whole skull except for the lower part of her forehead and around her eyes.

By the time she was old enough for surgery her growing brain had eroded holes in her skull. She needed a shunt to reduce the buildup of fluid on the brain.

"It all depends on how small the skull is and how much its restricting the brain," said Dr. Michael Cunningham, director of the Craniofacial Center at Seattle's Children's Hospital. "It [the brain] is trying to grow in a small blocked area, so it's trying to bulge out of the skull, and there are some areas above your ears which are never closed -- so they kind of bloom out of their ears."

In severe cases, Cunningham said "the brain is pushing very hard on the inside of the skull, and it can't tolerate that."

Bobbi-Jo Theriault, the triplets' mother, had Crouzon's herself, and said she thought she knew what to expect if any of her children inherited her rare medical condition. She remembered being teased as a child because she had protruding eyes and slightly-altered facial features.