Epilepsy in Patients with Craniosynostosis: A Systematic Review

If left untreated, craniosynostosis can cause neuropsychological impairments, psychosocial problems, and craniofacial deformities. Its association with epileptic seizures is unknown. This review investigated the incidence of epilepsy in patients with craniosynostosis. The Cochrane Library, Science Direct, Web of Science, EBSCO, and PubMed were all searched. Rayyan QCRI was used to filter study article titles and abstracts before full-text evaluations were conducted. In total, 11 studies involving 21456 patients with craniosynostosis were examined; more than half of the patients were men. The highest reported rate of preoperative epileptic seizures was 12.2%, and the lowest rate was 2.5%. The highest rate of post-operative epilepsy was 12.2%, and the lowest was 0.24%. There is a lack of literature on epileptic seizures as an outcome among craniosynostosis patients. The metabolic or hemodynamic events following craniosynostosis corrective surgeries were more significant. However, neurological manifestations, including epilepsy, require close monitoring. We found that syndromic craniosynostosis patients experienced more significant problems than non-syndromic patients.

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