The families of 207 index patients treated for spinal dysraphism at The Hospital for Sick Children were studied to discover whether the condition was aetiologically related to the classical neural tube malformation--spina bifida cystica and anencephaly. The index patients had all had a tethered conus medullaris and one or more of a variety of anomalies of the spinal cord, vertebrae, or skin ove...

The costs and economic benefits are examined of introducing a programme for the mass-screening of pregnancies for the detection and abortion of fetuses with spina bifida cystica. A benefit-cost index is derived, and the possible effects on it of making different input assumptions are discussed. It is considered that, on economic grounds, screening may be worthwhile only in populations in which ...

Introduction Spinal dysraphism is a term which was revived by Lichtenstein (1940) under which he grouped disorders arising from cutaneous, mesodermal or neural derivatives of the dorsal median region of the developing embryo. Within this broad classification must be included the sub-groups of spina bifida aperta with myeloschisis, myelomeningocele or meningocele and spina bifida occulta with or...

The neural tube defects (NTD) are a group of congenital malformations which are depressingly familiar to many obstetricians in the UK. Despite intensive investigation, their basic aetiology remains unknown. It seems probable that genetic factors are involved, interacting with environmental agents early in gestation to prevent closure of the neural tube. The number of the mutant genes is unknown...

Neurological disorders associated with spina bifida are usually either present at birth or arise in early life. There are two main types. First, lesions of the cauda equina; secondly, lesions at the foramen magnum. Occasionally, symptoms do not make their appearance until adult life and then the developmental nature of the disorder may not be recognized. We propose to give an account of two pat...

OBJECTIVES A case-control study was carried out to explore associations between spina bifida and occupational exposure of the mother. METHODS The cases were children with spina bifida aperta born between 1980 and 1992 from nine hospitals in the Netherlands. The controls were children born healthy in the same period as the cases, from hospitals and from the general population. Data collection ...

Recurrence frequencies of central nervous system malformations in sibs of probands with anencephalus or spina bifida range between 1% and 7%. The frequency of hydrocephalus among sibs of such probands is low (0.21%) but, nevertheless, is increased 2 to 5-fold when compared to general population frequencies. Anencephalus and spina bifida cystica were observed in 1.65% of sibs of children with hy...

This communication continues the analysis of data accumulated from a series of cases of spina bifida cystica observed during the years 1949 to 1958. In earlier papers, attention was drawn to the magnitude of the problem presented by these cases and to the amount of medical and surgical care which they require (Doran and Guthkelch, 1961) and to certain complications which need consideration in p...

We compared individual trait variability in 65 male and 81 female patients with spina bifida occulta (SBO) or spina bifida aperta (SBA) against 170 male and 200 female subjects randomly selected Serbian subjects without these conditions. Variability was evaluated by direct observation of 15 homozygous recessive traits (HRT), while gender was evaluated separately. Individual trait variations bet...