Results of treatment in myelomeningocele.

A follow-up study was made in 48 surviving children with myelomeningocele, the material being derived from a time when all infants were operated upon in the newborn period without primary selection. The follow-up revealed several children with severe physical handicap, whereas relatively few were both physically and intellectually handicapped. The results were compared with two earlier published studies of which one from Sheffield comprised cases where selection had not been applied and the other from Edinburgh in which certain criteria had been set up as contra-indications to early closure of the lesion. The effect of a hypothetical selection applied to the Swedish material is discussed. It is recommended that a uniform system of assessment in grading of handicap is applied to facilitate a comparison between different follow-up investigations.