NY triplets born with same skull malformation get surgery

STONY BROOK, N.Y. – A set of New York triplets has made medical history by being the first born with a rare skull malformation, and to be the first to receive corrective surgery.

Newsday reports (http://nwsdy.li/2qrOa4b ) the three 6-month-old boys — Hunter, Jackson and Kaden — underwent successful surgeries at Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island when they were 2 months old. On Monday, doctors and first-time parents Michael and Amy Howard, of Center Moriches (moh-RIH’-chihs), talked about the surgeries during a news conference.

Doctors say that the babies were born with craniosynostosis, a skull plate fusion which distorts the skull early and could stunt future brain development.

The likelihood of all three triplets being born with the same malformation is approximately 1 in 160 trillion.