Prenatal Spinal Surgery Improves Children's Brain Function, Motor Skills
Major Finding: Death or the need for a shunt was significantly less likely in the prenatal surgery group, compared with the postnatal surgery group (68% vs. 98%).
Data Source: In the Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS), 183 volunteer women with singleton pregnancies were randomized to prenatal surgery before the 26th week of pregnancy or surgery for their infants after birth.
Disclosures: The study was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
FROM NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
"At the present time, it would be responsible to inform families that this represents an additional option in care that they could consider," she said. "The decision to undergo fetal surgery is quite individual and different for every patient, but I think families need to know that this is one option in the armamentarium."
The study was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
