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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurotrauma
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1506806

Single-center experience with ultra-early cranioplasty within 3 weeks after decompressive craniectomy

Provisionally accepted
Lei Zhao Lei Zhao *Geng-shen Zhang Geng-shen Zhang *Xiaomeng Liu Xiaomeng Liu Lijun Yang Lijun Yang Kai Tang Kai Tang Jianliang Wu Jianliang Wu
  • Department of Neurosurgery, Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    1) Background: The optimal timing of cranioplasty (CP) after decompressive craniectomy (DC) is inconclusive. This article aims to investigate the effect of different timing of CP on the neurologic prognosis of patients, and to explore the feasibility and safety of ultra-early CP (within 3 weeks) following DC. (2) Methods: The duration time of surgery, intraoperative bleeding volume, surgery-related complications, and activities of daily living (ADL) scores were retrospectively analyzed in 23 patients underwent ultra-early CP performed within 3 weeks, and compared with 136 patients with non-ultra-early CP performed within the same time period. (3) Results: The mean duration time of surgery in the ultra-early group was significantly shorter than that in the non-ultra-early group. ADL scores were significantly lower in the ultra-early group than in the non-ultra-early group both before and 1 month after CP, but there was no statistically significant difference in ADL scores between the two groups at long-term follow-up. The overall incidence of surgery-related complications was 17.39% (4/23) in the ultra-early group and 14.71% (20/136) in the non-ultra-early group, and there was no statistically significant difference in the comparison between the two groups (P=0.739). ( 4) Conclusions: Both ultra-early and non-ultraearly CP can significantly improve the neurological prognosis of patients. Ultra-early CP can significantly shorten the length of surgery and does not increase the incidence of surgery-related complications, which has a certain degree of safety and feasibility, and can be popularized under the premise of strict screening of indications, but further research is still needed.

    Keywords: decompression craniotomy, Ultra-early cranioplasty, Surgery-related complications, Neurological prognosis, Duration time of surgery

    Received: 06 Oct 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Zhang, Liu, Yang, Tang and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Lei Zhao, Department of Neurosurgery, Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
    Geng-shen Zhang, Department of Neurosurgery, Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.