TY - JOUR ID - TI - Neural tube defects: Incidence and types AU - Saad .M .H. Alshahwani AU - Samira .A-H. Abdullah PY - 2019 VL - 25 IS - 1 SP - 104 EP - 114 JO - The Medical Journal of Tikrit University المجلة الطبية لجامعة تكريت SN - 18131638 AB - ABSTRACT: Background Neural tube defects (NTDs) are a group of severe congenital abnormalities resulting from the failure of closure of neural tube .It is result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors and therefore are classified as having a multifactorial etiology. Aim: to identify the incidence of neural tube defects through the following objectives to:Determine the frequency of NTD, , determine the types of NTDs, Compare the gender differences, and Study the histological appearance of the brain tissue in case of NTDs. Patients & Methods: Routine antenatal trans-abdominal ultrasound examination was made for 6720 outpatients’ women with missed period of 12-36 week ,for two years duration from september 2010 to october 2012. Thirty two patients were diagnosed as NTDs sonographically. The frequency of which was 0.47% of the total, which is higher than previous studies in other countries. The Results: The majority of cases was anencephaly (17 cases 53%) followed by encephalocele (8 cases 25 %) while spina bifida cystica was found in 7 cases (22 %); five cases were myelomeningocele and two cases were meningocele. The higher maternal age group affected with NTDs was the group 20- 24 years Anencephaly and encephalocele were most common defects among maternal age groups 20-24years and 15-19years, the frequency was higher in rural area than urban 21(65.6%) and 11(34.4% ) respectively. NTDs are more common among female than male fetuses. The commonest type of NTD was anencephaly .Normal cerebral cortex with less gyri and sulci was clear in all cases of encephalocele, while in cases of anencephaly about 8(47%) cases had normal brain tissue .Absent brain tissue were seen 9(52.9%),12(70%) had hemorrhage within the Brain tissue, while 11(64.7%) had necrosis with brain tissue Conclusions: The rickets is an important disease to be studied in this country account about nearly half of cases of preterm babies and about 10% of term babies .Breast feeding is a risk factor of the disease .Alkaline phosphatase activity and radiological feature are important for screening.

ER -