title: A different technique to create a 'myelomeningocele-like' defect in the fetal rabbit.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the fetal survival rate using a modified technique to surgically create a 'myelomeningocele-like' defect in a rabbit model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six white New Zealand rabbits had a spinal defect created in their fetuses at 23 days of gestation. At 30 days of gestation, the fetuses were harvested for anatomo-pathologic evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The defect was created in 19 fetuses and an attempt to correct it was made in 15 cases (group I), and 4 fetuses where left without correction (group II). At 30 days, a 'myelomeningocele-like' defect was present in all surviving fetuses. The total survival rate was 73.68% (14/19); 11 fetus survived in group I and 3 in group II.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The technical modifications, including fetal positioning and exposure of its back prior to the incision of the lamina, associated with a different technique for myometrium closure, offer an alternative and probably safer method to surgically create a spinal defect in the fetal rabbit.
authors.affiliation: Experimental Surgery Department, Instituto Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia, São Paulo, Brazil. denise.pedreira@fleury.com.br
authors.forename: Denise A L
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Pedreira
authors.forename: Paulo R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Valente
authors.forename: Rogério C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Abou-Jamra
authors.forename: Cláudio L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Pelarigo
authors.forename: Lilian M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Saul
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goldenberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005333:Fetus / Q000601:surgery*; D008591:Meningomyelocele / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011247:Pregnancy; D011817:Rabbits; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative