Fundamentals of Craniofacial Malformations

This is the first volume in an interdisciplinary three-book series covering the full range of biological, clinical, and surgical aspects in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with craniofacial malformations. This volume opens by considering general topics such as developmental biology and disease classification and then examines in depth the biological basis of the various malformations, including craniosynostoses, cleft-lip and palate with complex orofacial clefts, branchio-oculo-facial syndromes, rare syndromes, soft tissue malformations, and dysgnathia. Psychological aspects, including psychological evaluation methods and therapies and quality of life issues, are then addressed. Finally, all relevant clinical, radiological, and genetic investigations are described and important diagnostic issues are explored. Featuring numerous high-quality illustrations, the book will be of high value for all clinicians, researchers, and postgraduate students who deal with these malformations. The accompanying two volumes describe treatment principles and present in an atlas manner all relevant surgical techniques in detail. The content of this multivolume set, written by the world's leading research and clinical specialists in their discipline, represents therefore the recent intellect, experience, and state of this medical field.

Ulrich Meyer, DMD, MD, MSc, PhD, started to work in the field of craniofacial surgery in the 1990s, at the Department of Craniofacial and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Münster, Germany. He completed his specialization in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in 1998 and was appointed Senior Physician at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Münster in 2000, being promoted to Chief Senior Physician in 2002. He performed pioneering research work in craniofacial distraction osteogenesis and tissue engineering. In 2004 he founded the interdisciplinary open-access journal Head and Face Medicine. In 2005 he was appointed university professor for life (Professorship for Plastic Facial and Craniofacial Surgery) and senior consultant and deputy clinic director at the West German Maxillary Clinic (Westdeutsche Kieferklinik), Department of Maxillofacial and Plastic Surgery, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf. Based on his clinical and research expertise, he edited in 2008 the biomedical standard work Fundamentals of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. In the course of his surgical work in Münster and Düsseldorf, Dr. Meyer developed a broad spectrum of surgical techniques. More recently, he founded the interdisciplinary Craniofacial Center (Kieferklinik Münster) in Münster, where his main focus is the treatment of patients suffering from craniofacial deformities or diseases, in very close cooperation with geneticists, biologists, pediatricians, neurosurgeons, ENT specialists, orthodontists, and others.