title: Observations on spinal dysraphism.
abstract: An attempt has been made to look into the age at presentation, incidence and clinical presentation of 40 patients with spinal dysraphism. Thirteen cases of myelomeningocele and 11 cases of meningocele constituted the 'aperta' group and there were 16 'occulta' cases. Though among the 'aperta' cases male is to female ratio was 1:1, a marked male preponderance of 2.2:1 was seen among 'occulta' cases. First born child was found to be most frequently (44.50%) affected in the present series. Myelography remained a mainstay in deciding operation in 'occulta' cases. All 'aperta' cases and 11 out of 16 'occulta' cases were treated by operation. Regarding results of treatment, all cases with meningocele were fully cured, cases with myelomeningocele showed no improvement but further deterioration of the neurological status could be arrested. Hydrocephalus was associated in 8 out of 13 cases with myelomeningocele and ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt were instituted in all of them. Prognostic significance of presence of hydrocephalus was profoundly grave as was evident from the mortality rate (10%) in this series.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tripathy
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Roy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002557:Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007223:Infant; D007796:Laminectomy; D008297:Male; D008588:Meningocele / Q000601:surgery*; D008591:Meningomyelocele / Q000601:surgery*; D016136:Spina Bifida Occulta / Q000601:surgery*