Comprehensive Study of Neural Tube Defects in 1000 Foetuses with Clinical Spectrum.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: A variety of malformations are included under the description of Neural tube defects (NTDs). These are abnormalities of the embryonic neuralization process. The congenital malformations of human structure and are of great interest to anatomists, obstetricians, pediatricians and radiologists. NTDs are among the commonest and most severe disorders, affecting 0.5-2 per 1000 established pregnancies, and are second commonest group of birth defects, after congenital heart defects. A valuable contribution of this study, the neural tube defects aimed at clinical methods and refined for the prenatal diagnosis in utero. Materials and Methods: This comprehensive study was undertaken to know the incidence of detail knowledge of neural tube defects in KIMS Narketpally and KAMS & RC Hyderabad, among 1000 births during the period of two years. We found seven fetuses with neural tube defects involving brain and spinal cord. A detailed study was done emphasizing on embryology and genetic and non-genetic concepts. Results & Conclusion: The seven fetuses were stillbirths and aborted babies between 20 to 40 weeks, presented with neural tube defects (0.7%). Five fetuses were females and two fetuses were males. The spinal defects were 0.4%, cranial defects 0.2% and complete neural tube defects is 0.1%. This review article discusses the classification, clinical research and epidemiological understanding of NTDs and correlated with the available literatures.