A Cranioplasty is a surgical procedure to correct a deformity or defect of the skull and it is usually performed following a traumatic injury to the skull or after a previous brain surgery such as a craniotomy or craniectomy. In order to correct the defect the physician may have to use a prosthetic or other synthetic surgical material to complete the procedure.

Indication of Surgery:

• The deformity/defect could be congenital, as a result of trauma or acquired for example after a previous surgery involving the skull.
• A craniotomy is the most commonly performed surgery for brain tumour removal.
• It also may be done to remove a blood clot (hematoma), to control haemorrhage from a weak, leaking blood vessel (cerebral aneurysm), to repair arteriovenous malformations (abnormal connections of blood vessels),
• to drain a brain abscess, to relieve pressure inside the skull, to perform a biopsy, or to inspect the brain.

It is undertaken only after the neurosurgeon and the family accept the fact that there is a clinical issue involved due to the deformity and needs to be corrected.

There are a variety of surgical materials and prosthetics used for a cranioplasty.

 A craniotomy is performed to gain access to the brain for surgery by removing a portion of the skull. After the surgery, the bone that was removed from the skull is usually replaced using sutures or metal plates. An example of a situation where a surgeon may choose to perform a craniotomy is for removal of a brain tumour.

Indications of Surgery:

A Craniotomy is performed when a portion of the skull is removed and replaced and in craniectomy the portion of the skull is removed but not immediately replaced. Some examples of situations where a surgeon may choose to perform a craniotomy are: to create room for the brain to swell after trauma, to remove the bone due to an infection in the skull or a severely damaged skull with multiple fragments.

Early cranioplasty is helpful for improvement of neurological functions of patients craniotomy helps to correct the skull deformities at young age which can help for rest of the life for the patient. These are precise and farily accurate with minimum incision.

Immediately following craniotomy, it usually takes at least 6 weeks for the bone to completely heal.