Introduction: As infants spent their first weeks and months laying in pram and crib, their head tends to flatten in certain areas because of its softness and adaptabillity. It usually occurs on occipital area or on the side of the skull. When this happens we are talking about deformational brachiocephaly and plagiocephaly, the most common skull deformities. Medical treatment depends on the severity of the deformity. Because rapid brain and skull growth is so well known, observation is recommended in the first four months. Helmet therapy is known as the only effective treatment in severe deformities. Because of modern technology and use of CAD/CAM system, the production of cranial orthosis and treatment nowadays are much easier and precise. Purpose: The aim of this diploma work is to investigate the effectiveness of helmet treatment, when is the optimal time to start the treatment, what are the cranial asymmetry improvements at the end and compare this therapy with other conservative treatments based on the existing studies. Methods: When writing, I used desctiptive method, overview of the existing studies based on cranial corrective orthosis, deformational plagiocephaly and brachiocephaly. Results: Helmet treatment, psysiotherapy and positioning are proved to be effective treatments of cranial deformities. Helmet therapy proved to be the only effective treatment with severe deformities and infants with present torticollis and neuromuscular developmental delays. Younger infants showed better improvement, but the helmet treatment was also effective with older infants. Better improvements in cranial asymmetry were shown in infants, who worn the helmet for more then 20 hours per day. Discussion and conclusion: The age at initiation of helmet therapy and patient compliance are the only risk factors for helmet therapy failure. Infants younger then 6 months showed better cranial asymmetry improvements. Older infants showed improvements but with longer treament duration, also wearing a helmet more then 20 hours per day has a big importance. 23 hours per day is the optimal time for wearing a helmet, the other hour is meant for hygiene and examination of the skin. Best outcome for helmet treatment starts between 5 and 6 months of age. This applies for severe deformations. Psysiotherapy and positioning also proved to be effective but in younger infants with mild to moderate cranial deformities.
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