Texas Children’s Neurosurgery Department recently opened a new Cranial Deformities clinic at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus. Located at 18200 Katy Freeway, Suite WA340, the clinic offers high-quality care for infants less than one year old with various abnormal head shapes.
“Our clinic is an extension of the weekly Main Campus clinic which has been serving patients for the past 8 years,” said Brandy Berger, a nurse practitioner at Texas Children’s Neurosurgery Department. “The new clinic expands the access to care for patients and their families in the West Houston area.”
Plagiocephaly is the most common cause of an abnormal head shape in infants. The new clinic screens for torticollis and other contributing factors as well as craniosynostosis, a condition not to be missed when evaluating abnormal head shapes. A laser scanner is used to obtain cranial measurements to quantify the deformity. Our protocol-based evaluation often leads to the decision to treat the deformity with a reshaping helmet. If craniosynostosis is diagnosed, the patient is referred to the multidisciplinary craniofacial clinic for a surgical plan.
The plagiocephaly clinic at West Campus is open the second and fourth Thursdays of each month, and is staffed by nurse practitioners and a board certified orthotist from Hanger Prosthetics. The clinic began seeing patients on February 7, and has treated more than 30 patients, which complements the 35 patients per day that are treated at the plagiocephaly clinic at the Medical Center campus.
Patients as young as two months of age are referred to the clinic by scheduling appointments (ext. 2-3950) through the neurosurgery office at the Medical Center campus. Feel free to contact the department of neurosurgery for questions regarding the clinic (ext. 2-3950).