During a craniectomy, a portion of the skull is removed, allowing the brain to decompress.
What Is a Craniectomy?
This helps relieve swelling in the brain.
Verywell / Gary Ferster
The tissue and skin are then placed back to the original parts of the scalp and closed with sutures.
A craniectomy is performed under general anesthesia.
What Is the Purpose of a Craniectomy?
A craniectomy prevents the brain from becoming compressed, a situation that can be fatal.
During this time, you may need to wear a special helmet to protect your head and facilitate healing.
Eventually, you will undergo a follow-up surgery to replace the bone flap that was removed.
A brain injury can result in the loss of some physical and/or cognitive abilities.
A craniotomy can be performed under general anesthesia.
Craniotomies can also be used to clip an aneurysm.
Instead, the surgeon makes one or more small holes in the skull with a surgical drill.
Burr hole surgery is performed under general anesthesia.
The primary reason for burr hole surgery is to treat asubdural hematoma.
After several months, the bone is nearly as strong as it was prior to surgery.
If there is aninfectionin the area, for example, the bone flap may be discarded.
In this situation, the surgeon will place the bone flap in another location.
There it is protected and preserved by the patients own body.
There are also numerous organizations geared to supporting those with brain injuries, including theBrain Injury Association of America.
This may be necessary to allow the swelling in the brain to subside.
That portion of the skull will then heal and mend just like any other bone.
A craniotomy is done for allow a surgeon to remove a brain tumor.
In both cases, a bone flap, or section of the skull, is removed.
Deaths after craniectomy are often related to ongoing brain damage.
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