Hearing Loss in Sagittal Versus Metopic Non-syndromic Craniosynostosis

Background: Craniosynostosis is a well-described pathology involving aberrant formation of skull continuity. Due to these pathological fusions, the efficacy of the pediatric auditory system can manifest in conditions lending to ineffective hearing. While syndromic craniosynostosis has been analyzed for this purpose, hearing loss in infants with nonsyndromic craniosynostosis is less examined. The purpose of this study is to analyze whether nonsyndromic subtype may have an effect on hearing. Methods: A two-center retrospective chart to identify patients having nonsyndromic craniosynostosis. Subjects with either metopic or sagittal craniosynostosis were included. Factors including age, demographics, severity of symptoms – including headache, otitis media, micrognathia, hydrocephalus, and macrocephaly – treatment, and hearing loss were identified and examined. Results: In total, 101 patients with non-syndromic, single metopic or single sagittal craniosynostosis were identified and included. The mean age of this cohort was 38.4 ± 39.4 months. Of these, sagittal synostosis was the most common (62/101, 61.4%) while 38.6% of subjects had isolated metopic craniosynostosis. In total, 8 subjects (7.9%) suffered from hearing loss. The majority of these (6/8, 75%) were conductive hearing loss, with the remaining 25% being Sensio neural hearing loss. These factors were not associated with subject hearing loss ( P > .05). Additionally, craniosynostosis type was not associated with hearing loss ( P < .707) or severity of symptoms ( P > .05). Subjects with sagittal-pattern craniosynostosis were significantly more likely to undergo surgical treatment (80.6% vs 38.5%, P < .001). Conclusion: While craniosynostosis can present devastating complications secondary to premature skull fusion, it appears that nonsyndromic craniosynostosis in the metopic and sagittal patterns do not differ significantly in severity of symptoms nor hearing loss.