The cowpox vaccinations and later incarnations proved so successful that in 1980, the World Health Organization announced that smallpox was the first disease to be eradicated by vaccination efforts worldwide. Other orthopox viruses remain prevalent in certain communities and continue to infect humans, such as the cowpox virus in Europe, vaccinia in Brazil, and monkeypox virus in Central and West Africa. Medical use
Naturally occurring cases of cowpox were not common, but it was discovered that the vaccine could be "carried" in humans and reproduced and disseminated human-to-human. Jenners original vaccination used lymph from the cowpox pustule on a milkmaid, and subsequent "arm-to-arm" vaccinations applied the same principle. As this transfer of human fluids came with its own set of complications, a safer manner of producing the vaccine was first introduced in Italy. The new method used cows to manufacture the vaccine using a process called "retrovaccination", in which a heifer was inoculated with humanized cowpox virus, and it was passed from calf to calf to produce massive quantities efficiently and safely. This then led to the next incarnation, "true animal vaccine", which used the same process but began with naturally-occurring cowpox virus, and not the humanized form.This method of production proved to be lucrative and was taken advantage of by many entrepreneurs needing only calves and seed lymph from an infected cow to manufacture crude versions of the vaccine. W. F. Elgin of the National Vaccine Establishment presented his slightly refined technique to the Conference of State and Provincial Boards of Health of North America.
Lastly, the frontal bone is divided into two, rotated and attached to the supraorbital bar causing a nude area (craniectomy) between the parietal bone and frontal bone. Bone will eventually regenerate since the dura mater lies underneath (the dura mater has osteogenic capabilities). This results in an advancement and straightening of the forehead. Floating forehead technique
The so-called floating forehead technique combined with the remodelling of the supraorbital bar is derived from the fronto-supraorbital advancement and remodelling. The supraorbital bar is remodelled as described above. The frontal bone is split in two pieces. Instead of using both pieces as in fronto-supraorbital advancement and remodelling, only one piece is rotated and attached to the supraorbital bar. This technique also leaves a craniectomy behind. Other
SuturectomyThe simplest form of surgery for trigonocephaly was suturectomy. However, as this technique was insufficient to correct the deformities, it is not used anymore. Distraction osteogenesisDistraction osteogenesis is based on creating more cranial space for the brain by gradually moving the bones apart. This can be achieved by using springs. Minimal invasive endoscopic surgeryThese approaches are 2D solutions for a 3D problem, therefore the results are not optimal. Distraction osteogenesis and minimal invasive endoscopic surgery are yet in experimental phase. Outcomes
Surgical
Trigonocephaly seems to be the most compliant form of craniosynostosis for surgery. Because of standardization of current surgical approaches there is no surgical mortality and complications are few to none. The simple suturectomy is presently insufficient to adjust the complicated growth restrictions caused by metopic synostosis.