Clinical outcomes of myelomeningocele infants without antenatal surgery: Mortality and morbidity in a tertiary ICU setting

Abstract

Clinical Outcomes of Meningomyelocele Infants Without Antenatal Surgery: Mortality and Morbidity in a Tertiary ICU Setting Objective To investigate the early clinical outcomes of infants with meningomyelocele Material and methods We included infants with meningomyelocele who had undergone treatment in our tertiary neonatal intensive care unit. We included all patients with meningomyelocele between 2016-2023. We retrospectively recorded data and assessed perinatal history, morbidity, and mortality status. A p-value of <0.05 was set for significance. Results Our study included 90 patients, with an equal distribution of males and females. The majority (87.4%) were delivered by cesarean section, while 12.6% were delivered vaginally. Chiari malformation was present in 7.8% of patients. The average gestational age was 38 weeks, birth weight was 3070 ± 520 grams, birth length was 48 cm, and head circumference was 35 cm. Clubfoot was observed in 31.5% of patients, and scoliosis/kyphoscoliosis in 13.3%. The average sac width was 7 cm and sac length was 6 cm. Normal foot movements were noted in 11.1% of patients. The average surgery time was 49 hours postnatally. Meningitis/CSF infection developed in 28.9% of patients, and convulsions occurred in 23.3%. Hydrocephalus was detected in 72.2% of patients. During follow-up, 59% required a VP shunt. The mortality rate was 18.9%, with an average hospital stay of 41 days. Conclusion The poor prognostic factors were lower gestational age, longer sac length and width for lower extremity tonus, scoliosis for mortality, and head circumference, sac length, and sac width for shunt needs. Keywords: Meningomyelocele, hydrocephalus, ventriculoperitoneal shunt, neural Tube Defects

Keywords

• Meningomyelocele
• hydrocephalus
• ventriculoperitoneal shunt
• neural Tube Defects

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