Spina bifida

1. What is spina bifida occulta?
2. What is spina bifida cystica?
3. What is a common complication of myelomeningocele?
4. What is the incidence of urinary incontinence in spina bifida?
5. How does level of lesion correlate with IQ?

Answers:
1. Primarily vertebrae are affected with no herniation through the skin, usually occurring in the lumbosacral or sacral segments. It is not associated with Arnold-Chiari.
2. Designates meningocele, myelomeningocele, and other cystic lesions where the spinal canal contents herniate through the posterior vertebral opening.
3. Arnold-Chiari malformation, 90% of which are complicated by hydrocephalus.
4. 95% have incontinence, hypertonic bladder in thoracic lesions, hypotonic in sacral lesions.
5. Higher lesions result in lower IQ.