Cranioplasty

Cranioplasty is a surgical operation that repairs cranial defects caused by previous injuries or operations, such as decompressive craniectomy, by filling the defective area with a range of materials, usually a piece of the patient's own bone or a synthetic material. The operation is carried out by incising and reflecting the scalp after administering anaesthetics and antibiotics, reflecting the temporalis muscle and removing surrounding soft tissue to fully expose the cranial defect, then placing and securing the cranioplasty flap before sealing the wound. Cranioplasty is closely related to the ancient practice of trephination, with the earliest such operation dated to 3000 BC, and today it is performed for both cosmetic and functional purposes, restoring the normal shape of the skull and preventing complications such as the syndrome of the trephined that can follow a sunken scalp, though it carries risks including bacterial infection and resorption of the bone flap.