Meningocele does not involve the spinal cord, and can usually be repaired surgically to preserve normal spinal function in the infant. When an infant is born with the most severe form of spina bifida, treatment is usually to perform surgery at once, immediately following birth. Spina bifida treatment continues as soon after the operation as possible, when a physical therapist teaches the parents how to exercise their infant's legs and feet to prepare for walking with leg braces and crutches, and even still, some children will need a wheelchair.
If the infant then develops hydrocephalus, the built up fluid can be drained from the brain through surgical placement of a shunt. The shunt usually will run under the child’s skin into the chest or abdomen, and so then the fluid passes harmlessly through the child's body.
With spina bifida treatment, children with spina bifida usually are able to grow to become active individuals. Most individuals born with spina bifida who undergo successful spina bifida treatment are able to grow to have children, although such a pregnancy of a spina bifida individual is considered to be high risk.
Spina bifida is the most frequently occurring birth defect that is permanently disabling. Spina bifida will affect approximately one out of every one-thousand newborn infants in the United States. There are more children who are affected by spina bifida than are affected by muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, and multiple sclerosis all put together.
Spina bifida results from the failure of the spinal column to properly close during the first month of pregnancy. In severe cases of spina bifida, the spinal cord will protrude through the back to the outside of the infant’s body. The condition of spina bifida may cause varying degrees of paralysis and loss of feeling in the lower limbs, along with bowel problems as well as bladder complications.
A large percentage of children born with spina bifida have hydrocephalus, which is the accumulation of fluid in the brain. Hydrocephalus is a part of normal spina bifida treatment that is controlled by a surgical procedure called shunting. Shunting usually relieves the fluid buildup in the brain by redirecting it to the abdominal area with use of tubes (catheters).
Spina bifida occulta is a form of spina bifida that is usually harmless, and in which there is a small defect or gap in a few of the small vertebrae (bones) that make up the spinal column. With spina bifida occulta, the spinal cord and the nerves are usually normal, and most affected individuals have no problems caused by this minor abnormality. With the occulta form of spina bifida, treatment which is extensive is often not necessary.
Meningocele is the rarest form of spina bifida, and with meningocele spina bifida there is cyst or lump consisting of membranes surrounding the spinal cord which pokes through the open part of the spine. As such, the spinal cord and the nerves are usually normal. However, the cyst, which can be as small as an almond or as large as a softball, may be addressed with spina bifida treatment consisting of removal by surgery, allowing the infant to develop normally.
Meningomyelocele is classified as the most severe form of spina bifida, in which the cyst holds nerve roots of the spinal cord and often holds the spinal cord itself. Sometimes there may be no cyst, but solely a fully exposed section of the spinal cord and nerves. As such, spinal fluid may leak out, and that area will often be covered with sores. Affected infants are at high risk of infection until successful spina bifida treatment in which the back is closed surgically. However, in this most severe form of spina bifida, treatment may not fully resolve issues of varying degrees of leg paralysis and bladder and bowel control problems that remain.