Volume 2019, Issue 1 8034021
Case Report
Open Access

Sagittal Craniosynostosis with Uncommon Anatomical Pathologies in a 56-Year-Old Male Cadaver

Andrey Frolov

Andrey Frolov

Center for Anatomical Science and Education, Department of Surgery, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO 63104, USA slu.edu

Search for more papers by this author
Craig Lawson

Craig Lawson

Center for Anatomical Science and Education, Department of Surgery, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO 63104, USA slu.edu

Search for more papers by this author
Joshua Olatunde

Joshua Olatunde

Center for Anatomical Science and Education, Department of Surgery, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO 63104, USA slu.edu

Search for more papers by this author
James T. Goodrich

James T. Goodrich

Departments of Neurological Surgery, Pediatrics, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY 10467, USA montefiore.org

Search for more papers by this author
John R. Martin III

Corresponding Author

John R. Martin III

Center for Anatomical Science and Education, Department of Surgery, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO 63104, USA slu.edu

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 08 December 2019
Citations: 1
Academic Editor: Evelina Miele

Abstract

Sagittal craniosynostosis (CS) is a pathologic condition that results in premature fusion of the sagittal suture, restricting the transverse growth of the skull leading in some cases to elevated intracranial pressure and neurodevelopmental delay. There is still much to be learned about the etiology of CS. Here, we report a case of 56-year-old male cadaver that we describe as sagittal CS with torus palatinus being an additional anomaly. The craniotomy was unsuccessful (cephalic index, CI = 56) and resulted in abnormal vertical outgrowth of the craniotomized bone strip. The histological analysis of the latter revealed atypical, noncompensatory massive bone overproduction. Exome sequencing of DNA extracted from the cadaveric tissue specimen performed on the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platform yielded 81 genetic variants identified as pathologic. Nine of those variants could be directly linked to CS with five of them targeting RhoA GTPase signaling, with a potential to make it sustained in nature. The latter could trigger upregulated calvarial osteogenesis leading to premature suture fusion, skull bone thickening, and craniotomized bone strip outgrowth observed in the present case.

Data Availability

The datasets and materials used and/or analyzed during the current study are presented in the main paper and additional files.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.