Skull Reconstruction

For years, patients for whom traditional skull reconstruction was not on option, due to complications post cranial surgery, were left with noticeable skull deformities or a unsightly helmet. However, a team of plastic surgeons led by Chad R. Gordon, D.O. of John Hopkins University recently performed a game-changing surgery using a technique they developed to reshape the outer lining of the brain (the dura) in such difficult cases.

In this case, the patient developed an infection of the skull after having neurosurgery to remove a brain tumor. The infected part of the skull was removed and the patient was prescribed helmet therapy to prevent further injury to his brain, while the infection was cleared. However during this time the patient's brain became swollen and expanded outside the remaining skull cavity, making traditional reconstructive surgery impossible.

Using a new approach Gordon calls "bipolar duraplasty," the team directed low heat to the brain and shrunk it enough to proceed with a cranioplasty-- a procedure in which metal and plastic are used to replace missing skull.

According to Hopkins Medicine, "Bipolar cautery, as used here is the first-ever reported case worldwide of craniofacial surgeons using bipolar electrocautery to temporarily reshape the brain."

The entire study was published in the Journal of Neurosurgery on August 19, 2011.