Craniofacial Sutures: Development, Disease and Treatment (pdf)
Author : David P. Rice
Craniofacial sutures are important sites of facial and calvarial bone growth. Sutures therefore contribute to differences in the shape, size and character of our face and skull and as a result in the way in which we perceive each other. Suture development, which occurs mainly during embryogenesis, has to be carefully synchronized with the development of the neighboring organs. These organs are primarily the brain, eyes, nose and mouth. If sutures close prematurely, a condition called craniosynostosis, further bone growth is not possible at the site of fusion. This results in uncoordinated compensatory craniofacial development and consequently produces deformity of the calvaria, orbits or face and may also result in dental malocclusion. This book brings together leading basic science researchers and clinicians to produce a review of craniofacial suture development and the clinical conditions that can result from abnormal suture development.
The book is broadly divided into five sections. First, there is a developmental biology section in which the developmental anatomy of both calvarial and facial sutures is described, and the key molecular mechanisms controlling intramembranous bone and suture formation are detailed. In addition, the factors controlling suture patency are discussed. Following this there is a chapter on how, from an evolutionary aspect, sutures form and why they form at specific locations and at specific times. The third section gives a synopsis of the major clinical conditions affecting craniofacial sutures, a comprehensive overview of human genetic mutations causing craniosynostosis, and evidence of genotype-phenotype correlations. In the fourth section the major molecular pathways involved in normal and abnormal suture development are described. It is intended that this section combined with the clinical sections provides an insight into the molecular etiology of sutural disorders. Finally, there is a review of current treatment philosophies and a look to the future.