Evolution of prenatal detection of neural tube defects in the pregnant population of the city of Barcelona from 1992 to 2006

Abstract

A high DR (94%) for isolated NTD was observed in the city of Barcelona. The single significant change across the study period was an increase in the first trimester DR for anencephaly (from 16% to 71%).

Neural Tube Defects: The Experience of the Registry of Congenital Malformations of Alsace, France, 1995-2009

“…In our cohort, anencephaly was mostly detected in the first trimester of pregnancy (69.6%) which was similar to the rate of 60% reported by Salvador et al [19] between 1997 and 2006. Our results confirmed that spina bifida remained to be predominantly diagnosed during the second trimester (81.0 vs. 72.7% for Salvador et al [19]). These authors found an 83.3% rate of first-trimester diagnosis of cephalocele whereas it was only of 42.3% in our study.…”

“…Our study showed a total NTD prevalence of 14/10,000 [13,14,15,16], intermediate between the higher prevalence reported in North England (17.9/10,000) by Rankin et al [18] in 2000 and the lower prevalence reported in Spain (9.5/10,000) by Salvador et al [19] in 2011. The distribution of each NTD malformation was similar to that reported in the two above-cited papers: 41% of anencephaly (versus 43 and 46%, respectively), 13% of cephalocele (versus 6.5 and 10%) and 46% of spina bifida (versus 51 and 44%).…”

“…While the prenatal detection rate has ranged from 79 to 100% during the last 20 years in studies performed in high-risk populations of North America and Europe [43,44,45], the rates in the general population like ours were somewhat lower, ranging from 62 to 86% [9,18,46,47,48]. Our 88% detection rate was one of the highest observed in the general population, but lower than the 94% reported in the study of Salvador et al [19] performed in Spain from 1992 to 2006. In our study, although increasing detection among the 15-year period would be expected, as observed for other malformations, stable rates were observed.…”

“…The sensitivity of prenatal detection of cephalocele was 74% in our series, which was difficult to compare with the literature due to the large variability with rates ranging from 8 in Nigeria to 92% in California and 100% in Spain [19,42,51]. Focusing on spina bifida, our results were also in the upper range (81%) compared to reported prenatal detection rates ranging from 38 to 84% [11,19]. …”

A Retrospective Analysis of Neonatal Encephalocele Predisposing Factors and Outcomes

“…Many factors may play a role in the development of defects, such as viral infections, salicylate treatment in the early period of pregnancy, radiation, hypervitaminosis, and hypoxia. Ultrasonography and computerized brain tomography (CBT) for diagnosis and magnetic resonance imaging for the assessment of sac content are utilized [5,6] . Treatment is surgical and it requires many years of follow-up.…”