Spina Bifida Awareness Week

Spina Bifida Awareness Week – 18^th to 24^th October

Celebrate this years’ Spina Bifida Awareness week and help us to raise money for a very worthy charity. This week SHINE (Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Information Networking Equality), the UK’s leading Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus charity is campaigning to raise awareness and raise vital funds.

What is Spina Bifida?

Spina Bifida literally means “split spine” and is a fault in the development of the spinal cord and surrounding bones (vertebrae) which leaves a gap or split in the spine that does not form properly and may also be damaged. Spina Bifida is usually detected at the mid-term ultrasound (20 week) scan.

Why does Spina Bifida happen?

We don’t know exactly why spina bifida develops and research continues. However, we do  know that taking folic acid supplements before getting pregnant can reduce the risk of spina bifida in unborn babies.

There are significant numbers of unplanned pregnancies across the UK every year and so a lot of expectant mothers will not have taken the recommended dosage of folic acid in advance. SHINE have been campaigning for almost 30 years to re-introduce the mandatory fortification of flour and on the 20^th September this year the UK Government announced that folic acid will be added to non-wholemeal wheat flour across the UK to help prevent the condition, actively helping to avoid around 200 neural tube defects each year – approximately 20% of the annual UK total.

How can it be treated?

Most commonly the baby will be seen by a paediatric neurosurgeon shortly after birth. The surgeon will then decide whether the baby should have surgery to repair the defect in the back. It may be possible, under certain circumstances, to operate on the baby’s lesion in the womb, before 26 weeks of pregnancy. See SHINE's information on prenatal surgery if you would like to know more.

Please go to SHINE's website at www.shinecharity.org.uk for more information on the condition and how to support the charity.

For more information on SHINE's services, click here. 

For more information on what Spina Bifida is, click here.