Both Truitt boys had craniosynostosis. Bones in the skull fuse together causing babies heads to be shaped like footballs. Dad Steve has a lasting reminder of his operation across his head, but baby Jack will have to rely on his parents and pictures to learn about his surgery.
"The difference between my scar and his scar is night and day," Steve told Ivanhoe.
Surgeons took a minimally invasive approach for Jack's operation. Through two small incisions, they removed the fused piece of bone at the top of the skull. It relieves the pressure on the brain and allows it to grow normally. Compared to traditional surgery, the newer approach requires a much smaller incision and leads to less blood loss. Most babies don't need a blood transfusion, and they're in the hospital one day compared to five to seven.
"We have many infants who go into the surgery and never require a transfusion whatsoever," Edward Ahn, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, Md., told Ivanhoe. "They come in the morning of surgery and leave the next day without ever receiving anything."
"I'd say within a couple of weeks, you could see his head go from a football shape to a basketball shape," Steve said.
Jack had to wear a helmet after surgery to protect his head, but now he's a typical baby. A new generation of surgery for the next generation of kids.
In order to qualify for the minimally invasive approach, surgeons must operate before three months of age.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Ekaterina Pesheva
Public Relations
Johns Hopkins Medicine
(410) 926-6780
