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Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology pp 2310–2313Cite as

Myelomeningocele

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Synonyms

Spina bifida

Short Description or Definition

Myelomeningocele (MMC) is a neural tube defect causing an open lesion in the spinal cord and vertebrae from which the meninges and spinal nerves protrude (Law and Davis 2007). It can cause paraplegia, sensory deficits in the lower extremities, and neurogenic bowel and bladder. Most persons with MMC have malformations of the cerebral cortex.

Categorization

MMC is one of several types of neural tube defects, including anencephaly, spina bifida occulta, closed neural tube defects, and meningocele (Mitchell 2005).

Epidemiology

Prevalence rates for myelomeningocele without anencephaly in the USA of 3.72 per 10,000 live births were recently reported (Parker et al. 2010), with higher rates for Hispanic and White mothers and lower rates for Black mothers (Agopian et al. 2011). Multiple factors increase risk for MMC, including genetics, maternal folic acid intake, maternal prepregnancy diabetes, maternal obesity, exposure to anticonvulsants...

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References and Readings

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuro- and Behavioral Psychology, St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital, Boise, ID, USA

    Elena Harlan Drewel & Kathleen K. M. Deidrick

Authors
  1. Elena Harlan Drewel
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  2. Kathleen K. M. Deidrick
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Correspondence to Kathleen K. M. Deidrick .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Jeffrey S. Kreutzer

  2. Kessler Foundation, Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ, USA

    John DeLuca

  3. Independent Practice, Wynnewood, PA, USA

    Bruce Caplan

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Drewel, E.H., Deidrick, K.K.M. (2018). Myelomeningocele. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1571

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