NEURAL TUBE DEFECTS AND PREGNANCY

Objective: Neural tube defects are congenital malformations those mostly causing life-long morbidities. They are prevented by the periconseptional folic acid usage and prenatal diagnostic methods. Materials and methods: Pregnants from Afyonkarahisar and neighbourhood cities applied to our hospital and determined NTD, were investigated. Results: In our obstetrics clinic 1403 delivery were made and 43 of them had fetus with NTD. Among these fetuses 41.3% had meningomyelocel, 17.4% had meningocel, 21.7% had encephalocel, 8.7% had unencephali and 4.3% had iniencephali. Conclusion: Incidence of NTD is high in our region and geographic region, nutrition and other socioeconomic factors may be related to the high incidence. Education of the mother and periconceptional folic acid usage may reduce the incidence of NTD.