Spina bifida cystica: An orthopaedic criterion for the early closure of myelomeningocoeles

Spina bifida cystica. An orthopaedic criterion for the early closure of myelomeningocoeles.

There is an urgent need for criteria upon which to base the decision to close a myelomeningocoele soon after birth. Orthopaedic experience advises that early closure of the spinal lesion should not be done unless there is active flexion power at both hips. This criterion is offered with the knowledge that there may occasionally be other exceptional factors to contradict it, but it is based on e...

Spina bifida cystica.

Studies in Spina Bifida Cystica

Nicolai Tulp, the physician whose features are immortalized in Rembrandt's painting 'The School of Anatomy', first suggested the name 'spina bifida' (Tulpius, 1652), though the condition was known to Hippocrates, and the mediaeval Arab physicians are said (Denuce, 1906) to have specifically recognized the absence of the spinous processes in the affected area. Ruysch (1691) distinguished between...

Selection for treatment in spina bifida cystica.

This paper discusses (1) the mortality in 295 patients with myelomeningocele born 1961-9, (2) the "quality of life" of 88 surviving patients born 1961-5, and (3) their implications for selection for treatment in spina bifida cystica. Evidence is presented that high neurological levels, the presence of severe hydrocephalus, especially if present at birth, meningitis and ventriculitis, and gross ...

The Family History of Spina Bifida Cystica.

589 T HIS STUDY iS conceriled with the family history of 722 infants who were horn with spina bifida cystica (meningomyelocele, myelocele and meningocele) and who were referred to the Children’s Hospital, Sheffield, for surgical treatment. No cases were excluded from this investigation. None of the infants or children were referred for genetic advice hecautse of special problems, and if there w...