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Spina Bifida
Spina Bifida, the most severe form of which is known as myelomeningocele, is a birth defect in which the backbone and spinal canal do not close before birth. Recent research indicates a connection between Spina Bifida and a deficiency of folic acid in the diet of the mother.
300 Questions
Does a small bulge on a newborn's spine mean Spina Bifida?
Not necessarily. Spina Bifida usually is a HOLE in the lower back, with spinal tissue showing or sticking out of it. It could be Spina Bifida Occulta, a more mild form of Spina Bifida, but the diagnosis needs to be made by a physician.
If you already have a child with Spina Bifida should you get pregnant again?
Whether or not you should get pregnant again is a personal decision only you can make.
A woman who has no family history, and herself has never given birth to a child with Spina Bifida has a 0.1-0.2% chance of having a child with the condition.
A woman who has either a family history or has herself had a previous child with Spina Bifida has about a 3% chance of having a child with Spina Bifida, though this can be reduced to about 1% if she takes at least 4 mg of folic acid per day.
It is recommended all women who are contemplating getting pregnant should take folic acid supplementation for at least 3 months before conception and continue it for at least the first trimester of pregnancy.
Where in the genes is the spina bifida located?
Spina Bifida is not located in any gene. Spina bifida is not a genetically inherited disorder. There are people or families that are more likely to have a child with spina bifida because of their environment. They are more likely to eat certain foods than others because that's what their parents cooked and that's what they know how to cook or that's what they have to eat.
Spina bifida is caused by a lack of folic acid (folate). Folate neutralizes valproic acid which is the biggest indicator for spina bifida. In other words, we don't know why but if there are higher than normal levels of valproic acid in your body in the first 15-26 days after conception, your chances of having a child with spina bifida go up.
The only way to prevent it is for women of child bearing age to take a multivitamin with folate everyday even if they are not trying to conceive. Most women don't know they're pregnant when the defect occurs.
Can Spina Bifida cause learning disability?
Spina Bifida is often accompanied by hydrocephalus, or "water on the brain," which can cause learning disabilities. But not all children with Spina Bifida have hydrocephalus and therefore not all of them will have learning disabilities. Early intervention is vital.
What are nurses aide responsibilities dealing with Spina Bifida?
You would need to check your job description. I can only assume there are certain job skills you have to qualify to care for a patient with spina bifida. It will also depend on the age and types of defects your patient has.
Spina Bifida causes such a large variety of disabilities, from the mildest to the most severe defects. Your patients may need the tiniest amount of assistance with daily living to total patient care.
If you are going to be working in a home situation you should be able to learn to do everything the family members are able to do, which may encompass more than you have been trained for including treatments normally done by licensed personal, in a more formal setting such as an acute care facility. Anything that goes beyond your scope of comfort due to lack of training, speak up. Do not allow anyone to force you to attempt tasks you have not been trained to do, but do accept any training offered to make you a more valuable employee.
T-7 is the shorthand form for writing Thoracic vertebrae #7. So a child with T-7 spina bifida just means that their spina bifida lesion is located at thoracic vertebrae #7.
What are the food that cause spina bifida?
Spina Bifida is not caused by any particular food. It is caused by lack of a vitamin, folic acid, which can be obtained FROM foods.
What is the LEAST likely to be structurally affected if spina bifida develops in a fetus?
laminae of thoracic vertebrae
What are the dangers of Spina Bifida Gene found during an ultrasound?
Genes have codes on them that supply information or traits inheritedfrom each of our parents, when we then go on to have a baby the woman's egg and the man's sperm together add a new supply of these traits to their baby. It is the matter that combines to make our baby a unique combination of each parent.
The trait for Spina Bifida is what would be found in a genetic study. How great the dangers after finding the trait along with trying to determine what other factors contribute to a child developing the defect and what can be done to prevent the damage. At this time studies suggest it is probably caused by genetic, dietary and environmental factors.
Certain anti-seizure medications, diabetes, maternal obesity, an increased body temperature from fever or hot tubs, having a relative with spina bifida; all can increase the chances a woman will conceive a baby with a spina bifida. Most women who give birth to babies with spina bifida have none of these risk factors, and so despite years of research, it is still unknown what causes the majority of cases.
Scientists know when parents carry the gene for Spina Bifida their children carry a higher risk of having the birth defect. They also know a daily dose of folic acid (Vitamin B) in women at risk, taken before conception reduces the risk of having a baby with the defect up to 75%. When a couple has given birth to a baby with neural tube defects (NTDs), future children carry about a 3% increase in risk, that risk can be reduced to about 1% if the woman takes high doses of folic acid before and during pregnancy. Continued use of folic acid during pregnancy may reduce the severity of the defects when they do occur. It is unknown how or why folic acid has this effect.
Spina Bifida meaning split spine (Latin), is a developmental defect meaning it occurred during embryonic development. Often before the woman realizes she has conceived, the cells that form an early central nervous system come together and fuse between day 21 and 28 forming a single neural tube that will connect and house the brain, fluid and spinal cord. If in the first 28 days, the neural tube fails to close. The result is a defect of the central nervous system called Spina Bifida.
When a fetus is found on ultra sound to have Spina Bifida, the risk is determined by what the defect actually consists of. The spine usually provides a protective tube of bones with the nerves (spinal cord) running down the middle. In severe cases of Spina Bifida there can be an opening in the skin and muscles usually found in the babies lower back, the bones do not close round the spinal cord and the nerves can bulge out of the unborn baby's back. Either defects in the spinal cord and/or injury to the protruding nerves can leave the baby paralyzed. While the opening in the spine can be closed, any damage to the nerves is usually permanent. Spina Bifida is the most common permanently disabling birth defect in the United States. Affecting approximately 1 in 1,000 births.
Spina Bifida is not just one condition; it is a catch phrase for a multitude of problems affecting the body and the mind. Possibly more important the spirit of everyone in the family.
NTDs can involve both the spinal cord causing nerve damage and paralysis and also development of the brain; anencephaly is a neural tube defect (NTD) that occurs when the head end of the neural tube fails to close, this can cause a portion of the brain and skull to be malformed or missing. Infants born with this condition are born missing part of the cerebrum, most having this condition are blind and deaf.
Encephalocele, is usually determined shortly after birth when the membrane that covers the brain protrudes through a small opening in the skull. The severity depends on where on the head it forms and whether the brain tissue is also found to be outside of the cranium. Both physical and mental delays are common issues, paralysis, microcephaly, vision problems, seizures and mental retardation.
Children with Spina Bifida often have hydrocephalus, which literally means water on the brain, but the fluid is actually cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), malformed ventricles aren't able to drain and excess fluid will build up. The worst case scenario is the presence of excess fluid build up putting pressure on the brain. The pressure can push brain tissue aside causing more damage and is the reason a shunt is put in to the brain allowing excess to be drained off into the abdomen where it is reabsorbed by the body.
Spina Bifida Occulta (or hidden) is the most mild form. In occulta, the outer part of some of the vertebrae are not completely closed. The split in the vertebrae is so small that the spinal cord does not protrude. The skin over the lower spine on a person with occulta may appear normal, or there may be a small dimple, a dermal sinus, a lipoma or birth mark.
Spina Bifida Cystica A cyst protrudes through the defect in the vertebral arch causing a dorsal dural sac looking much like a blister on the baby's back. The terms spina bifida and myelomeningocele are usually used interchangeably. Spina bifida cystica may result in hydrocephalus and neurological deficits.
Meningocele is the less severe and less common defect, where the spinal cord does not protrude into a dural sac and the vertebrae develop normally. However the meninges are forced into the gaps between the vertebrae causing tethering and the surgery to free the cord has not
been found to be of great success due to scar tissue forming. Untethering is the second most common surgical procedure after shunts in children with Spina Bifida.
Myeolomeningocele is a protrusion from the an opening in the spinal column in which the sac pressed through the bony opening contains tissue and cerebro-spinal fluid but also nerves and part of the spinal cord. The spinal cord is not properly developed or damaged. As a result, there is always some paralysis and loss of sensation from the damaged region down. The amount of disability depends on where the Spina Bifida is, and the amount of affected nerve tissue involved. Most people with myelomeningocele experience bower and bladder problems due to the loss of spinal pathways relaying information up and down the spinal cord .
Spina bifida with myeloschisis is the most severe form of spina bifida cystica. In this defect, the involved area represented by a flattened, plate-like mass of nervous tissue with no overlying membrane. The exposure of these nerves and tissues make the baby more prone to life-threatening infections and surgery is usually performed soon after birth, if the baby is medically stable. If the opening is small enough doctors may leave it to heal on it's own.
These conditions can be diagnosed in utero by ultrasound imaging. or the basis of elevated levels of alpha-fetoprotein after amniocentesis.
Research has shown that up to 75% of all people with Spina Bifida have an allergy to latex. Because allergies can develop over time and reactions can be progressively worse the doctors and other caretakers need to limit the amount of latex products that come into contact with their patients who have NTD starting at birth.
Currently there are studies underway to determine whether surgery performed in utero or waiting until after birth provides the best outcome When surgery is performed on a fetus skin grafts are used to cover the exposed spinal cord, to protect it from further damage caused by prolonged exposure to amniotic fluid. The surgery may prevent more damage from occurring but at this time damage to the spinal cord cannot be repaired. The fetal surgery may decrease some of the damaging effects of the spina bifida, but the is risk to both the fetus and the pregnant woman.
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), a part of the NIH, is currently looking for women pregnant with a baby known to have Spina Bifida. The Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS) website has information on the trial, at attached link.
What is the typical treatment for pica?
A complete medical evaluation to discover the cause of the persons craving a foreign substance. This will include, blood and urine tests. In some cases the doctor may want a chest xray to see if any foreign matter has entered the lungs.
Treatment is dependent on the cause of the pica. Anemia and zinc deficiency may be treated with supplements. Often pica is treated with counseling and behavior modification techniques. Some doctors/psychiatrists are advocating the use of psychotropic medications to treat pica associated with OCD.
AnswerI have recently started treatment for pica, and as the other answer stated, it has inculded a chest x ray and an investigation into the possibility of a mass collecting in my digestive system. I have also been referred to behavioral therapy, which i am about to begin properly. My GP told me that pica is often due to behavioral habits rather than lack of minerals or nutrients, but I suppose I'll have to see how it goes.Spina Bifida seen at level 1 noted. What does that mean?
Spina Bifida occurs on the spinal cord .The spinal cord is divided into different areas for labelling .The bottom is the sacral area, which is divided in sections S5-S1, then the next area is Lumbar L5-L1, the next section is Thoracic T-12-T1 and finally the last section cervical C8- C1. I would assume if it said L1 that it means Lumbar section 1 where the lesion or mark is on the back.
Rachichisis is a rare form of the neural tube birth defect Spina Bifida where there is a cleft or "split" along the entire length of the spine.
What age group is affected by spina bifida?
Spina Bifida is a birth defect, which means it affects people all their lives, they are born with it.
What is the connection between spina bifida and folic acid?
Spina Bifida is an NTD (Neural Tube Defect) affecting the spinal column/cord. Folic Acid, also known as Vitamin B9 is known to help the develop the neural tube (spinal cord and brain) during fetal development. Women of child rearing age who are trying to get pregnant/are pregnant are encouraged to take higher than normal quantities of Folic Acid to help reduce the chances that their baby could have spina bifida. Women should start taking the higher dose at least 3 months before getting pregnant and then throughout their pregnancy, this is especially important for women who have a family history of spina bifida or have spina bifida themselves.
I'm allergic to latex can I buy rubber wood furniture without getting a reaction?
Rubberwood comes from the Rubber Tree (Hevea brasiliensis) which is the same tree which we get Natural Rubber or Latex from. You may be able to purchase the item without a reaction, but each time you or your child come in contact with the item it would be considered an exposure which over time can increase Latex Sensitivity/Allergy.
How many people with Spina Bifida have had children with out Spina Bifida?
My daughter has Spina Bifida and her daughter has Spina Bifida
Which is an important factor in understanding how disabilities affect children's motor learning?
I would be happy to help you with your question, but you didn't give us the following list to choose from.
It is the abnormal growth of the external ear
What is congenital spinal defect?
Congenital means existing from birth. A congenital spinal defect is a spinal defect that a person is born with, such as, for instance, Spina Bifida. Spina Bifida is not the only congenital spinal defect that exists.
What is the human anatomy involved in Spina Bifida?
The spine, which would have a deformity causing an opening in the lower part of the spine and nerve damage from that point down; the brain can be effected, with hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and in severe cases, mental retardation, and in more mild cases, possible learning disabilities such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD); the legs and/or feet may be paralyzed or partially paralyzed. The hydrocephalus would require a shunt, which is a tube placed in the brain to drain the excess cerebrospinal fluid out. The bladder and bowels are sometimes affected, with the person having no or limited control of them.
Can a fetus with spina bifida have movement?
Yes, Spina Bifida does not cause total body paralysis. Usually the paralysis is only in the feet and sometimes the legs. So the hands and arms will move just like any other baby's.
Is folic acid found in a higher concentration in fetus than mother?
A fetus gets all of it's nutrition from their mother. The mother has all of the nutrients and passes them along to the fetus.
