Two hundred women 18 years of age or older who are carrying babies with spina bifida will be enrolled in the study. They must enroll by their 25th week of pregnancy. Half of the women will be assigned to have prenatal surgery and half to have postnatal surgery. This is a randomized trial meaning that neither the doctors at the MOMS Center nor the women who participate will have a say in whether or not they are assigned to surgery before delivery or surgery after delivery. The prenatal surgery will be done at one of three MOMS Centers between the 19th and 25th week of pregnancy. Women in both groups will deliver their babies at their assigned MOMS Center by C-section around the 37th week of their pregnancy. Women assigned to the prenatal surgery group will stay in lodging near their MOMS Center from the time they are accepted into the study and have the prenatal surgery until they deliver their baby by C-section around the 37th week of their pregnancy. Women assigned to the postnatal surgery group will return home after they are accepted into the study and will be cared for by doctors in their area until they return to the MOMS Center at 37 weeks for delivery by C-section and for postnatal closure of their baby's spina bifida defect by the MOMS team neurosurgeon.
Interested women or their doctors should call Dr. Catherine Shaer, the Program Manager at the Biostatistics Center of the George Washington University, to obtain information and to have a preliminary assessment of eligibility.
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