Hospital Practices and Research

Abstract Background: Craniosynostosis, is defined as the premature fusion of the cranial sutures, which can cause impair brain development and cognitive problems.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the epidemiological features of children with craniosynostosis. This assessment includes the characteristics of the patients, their parents as well as their socioeconomic status.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed from 2015 to 2020 in Imam Hossein Children's Hospital, Isfahan, Iran. For this purpose, 220 patients under craniosynostosis treatment were included. Accordingly, multidisciplinary team examined the participants. Furthermore, a CT-scan was performed on all patients. Participants underwent surgical intervention. The recorded information was classified into four sections: 1. characteristic data of children with craniosynostosis 2. Family history and parental information, including underlying diseases and drug history 3. Socioeconomic status 4. Treatment and surgery.
Results: According to findings, 151 (68.7 %) of participants were male and 171 (77.9%) had term delivery.  The average birth weight was 2.92 kg and head circumference were 34.4 cm. The mean age of children at the time of surgery was 7.74 months and the mortality rate was 3 (1.4%). Moreover, 90% were operated once and 10% were operated two or three times. The most common type of craniosynostosis was Metopic 59 (59.4%). In relation to parenteral data, 96 (43.6%) of parents had consanguineous marriage and 6.4% had 1st and 2nd degree family with craniosynostosis.
Conclusion: To coclude, attention must be directed towards the potential risk of craniosynostosis in offspring born to consanguineous couples. Moreover, parents must receive guidelines for managing children affected by craniosynostosis.

Abstract Background: COVID-19 quickly spread around the world as an epidemic with potentially unknown hazards. Like its impacts on various occupations, neurosurgery has undergone changes due to the virus, including changes in surgical planning, inpatient and outpatient clinics, emergency management, and even academic activities.
Objectives: The present study was performed to determine neurosurgery challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.
Methods: The present study was conducted as a mixed qualitative and quantitative study in 2021. In the qualitative section using the targeted sampling method, 11 members of the target community were selected using the available sampling method and completed a questionnaire. The qualitative part was conducted in two stages of reviewing texts and interviewing experts and in the quantitative part we evaluated the validity of the structure and the reliability of the questionnaire.
Results: This study examined in detail all aspects of the effects of COVID-19 on neurosurgery. 9 dimensions and 61 items were identified as the challenges of neurosurgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order of importance, the aspects were: treatment outcome, manpower, management psychological and physical diseases, education and research, tools and physical space, ethics, financial implications and information technology.
Conclusion: The outbreak of epidemics has different risks for specialties, among them neurosurgery. Accordingly, to observe patients’ right to treatment, all necessary measures were first taken to provide instructions, regulations, policies and ethical guidelines.