Abstract
This is a transcript of a scientific conference on the subject of prenatal surgery for spina bifida. It represents the views of three patients, an obstetrician, a postnatal neurosurgeon, a neonatologist, a paediatric neurologist, two surgeons who practice open spina bifida foetal surgery, a fetoscopic surgeon and an obstetrician experienced in randomised trials and systematic reviews. Implications for current practice and recommendations for future research are also discussed in detail.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the women that agreed to be interviewed at this conference. The authors also wish to thank Mrs. Cathy McKillop from SHINE, the spina bifida charity, for facilitating and organising this meeting. We wish to thank Professor Thomas Kohl for his invaluable contribution regarding fetoscopic surgery at this meeting.
Funding
MDI Medical, Public Health Agency Northern Ireland, Perinatal Trust Fund Northern Ireland, SHINE.
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SO confirms that this is an honest, accurate and transparent account of the meeting being reported. SO, CM and JC organised the meeting with others. AA wrote the first draft of the report. CB, KAE, JB, AP, AxH, DAS, AH, RM, JD and RKM presented data to the meeting. FM, MS, FMcA, DC and ZA chaired and directed discussion during the meeting. All authors contributed to the discussion, edited the report and approved the final version.
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JB and JD are proponents of prenatal surgery, and DC, MS and RM are proponents of postnatal surgery. These authors do not stand to gain financially or otherwise. All other authors declare no conflict of interest.
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This is a transcript of a scientific meeting. Not all authors agree with all statements in this paper.
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Shanmuganathan, M., Sival, D.A., Eastwood, KA. et al. Prenatal surgery for spina bifida: a therapeutic dilemma. Proceedings of the SHINE conference, Belfast. Ir J Med Sci 187, 713–718 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-017-1709-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-017-1709-6