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A baby with an armoured brain
Mohammed Al Wohaibi, Neville Russell and Ahmad Al Ferayan
Division of Neurosurgery King Fahad National Guard Hospital Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
A male infant was born at term to a woman in her 20s after an uneventful pregnancy and uncomplicated vaginal delivery. He weighed 3500 g and had normal Apgar scores. A large, intact thoracolumbar myelomeningocele was present. There was no family history of neural tube defects, and no specific antenatal testing for these defects had been carried out. The myelomeningocele was associated with a complete sensorimotor paraplegia, absent anal tone, a neurogenic bladder and equinus deformities of the feet. A CT scan of the head performed within days after birth showed hydrocephalus associated with Chiari's malformation type II. At 5 days the myelomeningocele was repaired, and several days later a ventriculoperitoneal shunt was inserted.
CMAJ o July 8, 2003; 169 (1) © 2003 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
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