Jan 27, 2009 6:03 pm US/Central
New Scanner Removes Trauma From Baby Helmets
(WCCO)
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thin white stocking cap and reflectors, placed on the child, allow OrthoAmerica's FDA-approved Star-scanner to make a virtual cast of a baby's head. Within seconds the images are available in a computer.
CBS
It has been an increasingly common question to pediatricians: Why is my baby getting a flat spot on the back of his or her head? It's probably because parents place babies on their backs to prevent SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome.
Since the early 1990s the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, has dropped 40 percent. That's because doctors started urging new parents to place their babies on their backs to sleep.
However, the statistics for plagiocephaly, or flat spots on the head, multiplied by six times. It now occurs in an estimated one in 50 children.
Angie Haas noticed it with her daughter Jackie a few months ago. However, a custom-fitted helmet has worked wonders. Jackie wore her helmet 23 hours a day for 10 weeks, with her parents taking it off only for baths.
"The greatest results we saw were in the first six weeks," said Angie. "She was really growing at that point, so we definitely noticed that her head rounded both in the front and in the back."
A cast of the baby's head is needed to mold the helmet. The standard approach for casting has been to layer on fabric and plaster.
"Taking casts was a pretty big deal, it was always traumatic for the child," said Park Nicollet Clinic Orthotic Specialist Ryan Hines. "Some moms would cry."
There are far fewer tears now that orthotic specialist Ryan Hines has technology to turn to. A thin white stocking cap and reflectors, placed on the child, allow OrthoAmerica's FDA-approved Star-scanner to make a virtual cast of Jackie's head. Within seconds the images are available in a computer.
No matter how many times babies need to be scanned to get a good image, they are not exposed to anything hazardous. The weak, class-1 laser beam in the crib-sized unit is no stronger than one used in a computer mouse. It has less energy than a laser pointer.
The data is fed electronically to a lab that makes a solid foam cast of the child's head. Experts add plaster to the foam where the flattened regions of the skull are to create a void inside the helmet.
Hines said that is how the skull is guided to repair itself.
"We're not pressing on their head," said Hines. "We're not squeezing. We're creating a void and then we're creating another void in the back and [with the goal of] getting full symmetry. "
Jackie's father, Chris Haas, said he appreciates the new technology.
"Not only the convenience of it, but being able to track the data and see it so you know that you're actually making progress instead of somebody just going by feel and touch, kind of the old way," Chris said.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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