Spinal Bifida
By What is it?
It is a congenital spinal defect that is evident at birth and is one of the defects of the neural tube.
Cracking of the spine can occur along the dorsal chain anywhere in the spine if the nerve canal is not closed along its length, so if it does not close and the defect occurs in any area along the nerve channel, this means that the area where this defect occurred and the cord is damaged The spines and nerves surrounding this part and the effect may extend to the parts that follow.
Statistics: About 250 to 500 children out of every million born in the United States of America each year suffer from spina bifida. But thanks to advances in medicine and medical technology, nearly 90% of these children who suffer from this birth defect live as normal adult adults, and most continue to live a full life like most healthy ones.
Why is this happening…
The science has not yet been conclusively and decisively arrived at precisely and with certainty the reasons for this cracking or spina bifida with firm and definitive evidence but some scholars suggest that it may be a mixture of different surrounding environmental factors and the family history of the family in this disease, and some of them linked the matter to a lack of some Acids that affect the full development and nutrition of the fetus in the mother’s body such as folic acid deficiency (A type of vitamin B) during pregnancy.
Quick shot
Spinal fissure, or spina bifida, is idiomatic in the Latin language. It means dividing the spine. The word consists of two parts:
spina means backbone
bifida means split
Spina bifida types:
Spina bifida occulta (SBO)
It is the most common and widespread type of spinal fissures and the least harmful and disruptive effect on the spine. By observing from their name, you find that its name is hidden. Most people do not even notice its presence. In this type, the spinal cord, spine, and nerves are in good condition, often well, but there will be A small gap is at the bottom of the spine and this type of spina bifida does not cause any harm or any kind of disability to the person who has it.Usually people who have this type feel nothing and are accidentally discovered accidentally if someone plans to do an X-ray for something else.
2-Meningocele
It is the rarest type of spina bifida where a sac that contains some of the spinal fluid (but not the spinal cord) travels through an opening in the child’s back. Symptoms vary from person to person. Some people have little or no symptoms, while others have problems with the bladder and intestine area.
3-Myelomeningocele
This is the most deadly and deadly type of spina bifida. Where it happens here that the child’s spinal cord canal is open in one place or in several places so that its presence and spread areas vary in the lower or middle of the back, with a bag or sacks of fluid along the spinal canal or the dorsal chain parallel to it. These cysts also contain a portion of the spinal cord and the associated nerves, unfortunately the damage to the parts surrounding the site of the vents is almost inevitable in this violent case.
*Some women with diabetes who do not pay good attention to their diet or if they are among those who are obese may be more likely than others to have a child with spinal bifida.
What are the distinguishing signs of spina bifida?
1-The most obvious and distinctive sign is the appearance of a tuft of hair or a distinctive mark at the site of congenital deformation.
2-In both the second and third types, we can see a sac containing spinal fluid flowing through the baby’s back.
3-In the second type (meningococcus case), a thin coated layer of skin may form on the bag.
4-In the third most violent type, there is usually no skin covering of the marrow, and the spinal cord tissue is exposed to air without its protective layer of skin.
5-Weakness and weakness in the leg muscles (in some advanced cases, the child cannot move them at all).
6-The feet are not normal, the hips are uneven, or the scoliosis spine (curved).
7-The seizures that come as a result of defect and fracture of the spinal cord in advanced cases of disorder.
8-Intestinal problems as well as pain in the bladder area.
9-Problems and difficulty breathing.
Difficulty swallowing and digesting. 10-
11-Suffering to move the upper sides.
12-Being overweight may be one of the things that accompanies the condition
In general, the symptoms, signs, and problems that appear most often depend on the location of the spinal defect and on any poor nerves.
Preparatory preventive diagnosis:
There are three tests to verify the presence of spina bifida and some other birth defects while the baby is in the womb:
1-Ultrasound: High-frequency sound waves propagate and penetrate when they collide with the tissues in your body to present a black and white image of the target area on the computer screen.
2-Blood test: A sample of the mother’s blood is tested to ensure the presence of a very high protein protein in the blood to indicate the presence of spina bifida or the presence of another congenital defect in the nervous canal.
3-Amniocentesis: If there is an imbalance in the results of the previous two tests, which wave appears as normal, and a blood test is given as a percentage of the AFP protein, we refer to this test to determine the matter.
Treatment of spina bifida:
1-Sometimes we perform surgery while the baby is still in the womb specifically before the twenty-sixth week of pregnancy, when the child’s spinal cord opening is closed.
The results of this operation show a great development in the recovery of the children who performed it, as they have fewer birth defects than those who did not do it, but the worrying thing about this process is that it is full of risks that the mother may be exposed to, and there is also a possibility of premature birth.
2-Doctors can perform surgeries on children when they are a few days old. If the child suffers from the second type, surgery is performed about 24 to 48 hours after birth, where the surgeon returns the membrane around the spinal cord to its place and closes the opening.
3-If the child suffers from the third type, the surgeon returns the nervous tissue and spinal cord to the inside of the child’s body, covers it and patch it with a layer of skin.
In some cases, the surgeon may also resort to inserting a hollow tube into the child’s brain to prevent water from collecting on the brain (called hydrocephalus) as this procedure is performed within 48 hours of the baby’s birth.
Complementary treatment for surgery of spina bifida:
Once the surgical order is completed, there may be a need to treat other problems in the limbs or spine or to replace the shunt that is made to prevent edema of the brain.
It is estimated that about 30 percent of children with the third type have what is called progressive ligation, where the lower part of the spinal cord floats freely in the spinal canal. Messia later has many problems in the muscles, intestine and bladder, and the child may need surgery to fix this problem in the future.
