Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffYour doctor will feel your baby's head for abnormalities such as suture ridges, perform a physical exam and look for facial deformities. In addition, your doctor may order other tests, including:
- Imaging studies. X-rays or a computerized tomography (CT) scan of your baby's skull will show whether any sutures have fused. Fused sutures are identifiable by their absence, because they're invisible once fused, and by the ridging of the suture line.
- Genetic testing. If your doctor suspects your baby's misshapen skull is caused by an underlying hereditary syndrome, genetic testing may help identify the syndrome. Genetic tests usually require a blood sample. Depending on what type of abnormality your doctor is looking for, your baby may be required to give a hair, skin or other tissue sample, such as cells from the inside of the cheek. The sample is then sent to a lab for analysis.
References
- Craniosynostosis information page. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/craniosynostosis/craniosynostosis.htm. Accessed March 22, 2009.
- Stal S, et al. Overview of craniosynostosis. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 23, 2009.
- Stal S, et al. Craniosynostosis syndromes. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 23, 2009.
- Craniosynostosis and craniofacial disorders. American Association of Neurological Surgeons. http://www.neurosurgerytoday.org/what/patient_e/craniosynostosis.asp. Accessed March 27, 2009.
- SIDS: "Back to sleep" campaign. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. http://www.nichd.nih.gov/sids. Accessed March 27, 2009.
