Spina Bifida

[Gemma_xX]

I'm enquiring more so for my sister; She is 20 years of age and born with Spina Bifida, she is paralysed from the waist down. I've been researching online about surgery for this disability, it was never really something that was offered to my mum as in those days they didn't know all that much!
Just wondering if anyone knows much about the surgeries available and their success rates?

 

[Tegans Mama]

Hi

My daughter has spina bifida. She is also paraplegic. What sort of surgery do you mean? Unfortunately the damage done by SB is almost always irreversible - as in there is nothing that can generally be done to fix it.My daughter is paraplegic and will always be that way, as will most other people who have severe SB.

The only surgery I can think of that you might mean would be the closure of the spinal defect which in most cases is done in the first few months of life. Unless your sister has a less severe form of SB though, I'd imagine that has already been done as very few babies can survive with an open defect due to infection risks etc.

Can I ask what kind of SB she has? Tegan has myelomeningocele.

 

[BabyBoo36]

My LO has SB meningocele. The only surgery she has had was one to remove her cyst at 12 weeks (her cyst was skin covered and wasn't an infection risk). As far as I know, there isn't really any surgery to help the paralysis from severe SB. There are operations to assist with continence thou?