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Brief Overview:
Encephalocele is a condition where brain tissue goes through an opening in a newborn’s skull and happens when the top of the neural tube doesn’t close completely. This can be mild to life-threatening, generally treatable through surgery. (Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). Encephalocele). It’s estimated that about 1/10,040 babies are born with Encephalocele. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, December 21). Encephalocele.) Surgery isn’t an emergency, except for those with skin ulceration and CSF leaks. It can be performed as early as 2 months but is generally delayed to 4 months to several years of age, due to the small volume of total blood in infants. (Kumar, E., & Ghosh, D. (2021). Encephalocele. In J. B. Anderson (Ed.))
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What is it?
Anencephaly is a fatal birth defect where the baby is born without parts of their brain and skull. This affects the baby’s nervous system, comprising their brain, spine, and nerves. In early pregnancy, the neural tube develops into the baby’s brain and spine, with the upper part helping form the brain and skull, the middle part forming the spinal cord, and the lower part forming the backbone. However with anencephaly, the upper portion of the neural tube doesn’t function as it should, resulting in this birth defect. When the top of the neural tube doesn’t close during embryonic development, around the third and fourth week of pregnancy, the fetus continues to form incompletely. The baby is often developed without the forebrain and cerebrum, the parts of the brain which are responsible for cognitive processes, hormone regulation, sensory processing, coordinating movement, and more (Anencephaly, n.d.). This usually results in a miscarriage or a stillborn baby–only about 25% of babies that develop anencephaly are born alive (Anencephaly, n.d.). Since this birth defect affects brain development, babies born with it usually live only a few minutes, hours, or days. (Anencephaly | Birth Defects, 2024) Spina Bifida is a rare category of Neural Tube Defects where the spinal cord does not close or, in some extreme cases, even fails to properly develop. Though its causes are not specifically known, Folic Acid consumption has been significantly correlated with a higher risk of such conditions. Diabetes and certain medications (if taken during pregnancy) are also factors contributing to high risk pregnancies.
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