Spina bifida and anencephaly
This website aims to give information on the causes, symptoms and treatment associated with spina bifida and anencephaly.
Spina bifida is a congenital defect caused by the failure of the embryonic neural tube to close at the tail end. The term spina bifida comes from the Latin meaning of ‘split spine’ and occurs at the end of the first month of pregnancy. Some vertebrae remain unfused and open and sometimes a portion of spinal cord may protrude through, surrounded by a fluid filled sac. This condition often results in hydrocephalus.
Anencephaly is also a congenital defect caused by the failure of the embryonic neural tube to close. This is at the cephalic end of the tube opposed to the tail end in spina bifida. Anencephaly causes the absence of a significant proportion of brain tissue therefore many babies are lost to miscarriage, stillbirth or only survive a few days or weeks. Babies that do survive until full term are often are deaf, blind and unconscious.
Banner image courtesy of Wiki Commons under creative commons licence:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neural_tube.png?uselang=en-gb
Article image - Spina bifida courtesy of Wiki Commons: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spina_bifida_rear.jpg
