News & Events: Spina Bifida Surgery

UCSF News reports on the discovery by researchers at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco that fetuses with enlarged ventricles, the fluid-filled cavities inside the brain, may be less likely than other fetuses to benefit from surgery in the womb to treat spina bifida. These findings were based on data from the 2011 Management of Myelomeningocele (MOMS) study, which demonstrated the potential benefit of treating spina bifida, a birth defect, in utero. The researchers found that fetuses with enlarged ventricles were more likely to require a second surgery to relieve a [...]

For years, surgeons have been seeking ways of operating on babies in the womb, reasoning that medical abnormalities are easier to address while the fetus is still developing. Now, for the first time, a large clinical trial has shown that fetal surgery can also benefit infants with non life-threatening conditions. The eight-year study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that babies born with myelomeningocele, the most common form of spina bifida, a debilitating spinal abnormality, were twice as likely to walk and experienced fewer neurological problems with in [...]