Table of Contents
- Overview
- Treatment
- Prevention
- Images
Macrocephaly
Home Care
Call your health care provider if
The health care provider usually finds macrocephaly during a routine well-baby exam.
What to expect at your health care provider's office
The health care provider will take a medical history and will perform a
Medical history questions may include:
- Time pattern
- When did you first notice that the baby's head seemed large?
- Does the baby's head size seem to be increasing faster compared to the growth of the body?
- Location
- Does the head seem larger all over?
- Is the head growing more in a front-to-back pattern or in a side-to-side pattern?
- Other
- What other symptoms are present (especially changes in brain or nervous system functions)?
The distance is measured in centimeters or inches and compared with:
- Past measurments of a child's head circumference
- Normal ranges for a child's sex and age (weeks, months) -- based on normal growth rates of infants' and children's heads
A careful physical exam will be done. Other
In some cases, a single measurement is enough to confirm that there is a size increase that needs to be tested further. More often, repeated measurements of the head circumference over a period of time are needed to confirm that the head circumference is increased and the problem is getting worse.
Diagnostic tests vary depending on the cause, but often include:
Head CT scan MRI of the head
Images
Review Date: 05/01/2011
Reviewed By: Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Assistant Professor of
Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also
reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
