Periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) originates in the germinal matrix near the lateral ventricles and typically is observed in infants born preterm before 34 weeks’ gestation (Plate 1-12). In preterm infants, the…

Nonsyndromic craniosynostosis occurs much more frequently than syndromic. The most common premature closure occurs in the sagittal suture, which leads to scaphocephaly, dolichocephaly, or elongated head. The next most common…

A far more devastating variant of spina bifida aperta is myelomeningocele, in which the spinal cord or nerve roots, or both, protrude through the posterior bony and cutaneous defects due…

Cutaneous stigmata of spina bifida occulta include dimples, dermal sinuses, subcutaneous lipomas, tufts of hair, or hemangiomas. Cutaneous lesions may occur in isolation, or herald an underlying tethered cord due…

At 49 days of age (see top, Plate 1-9), the brain and spinal cord undergo further bending that situates both appropriately in the developing head and trunk. The cephalic flexure…

Several other clinical conditions characterized by congenital failure of fusion of the midline structures of the spinal column are grouped under the general classification of spinal dysraphism. These various manifestations…

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An encephalocele is a protrusion of a portion of the brain or meninges through a skull defect. Although an encephalocele usually occurs in the occipital region in patients from Europe…

By embryonic day 21, the neural tube in the midsection of the embryo has closed; the neural folds fuse and the underlying neuroectoderm encloses a fluid-filled cavity that becomes the…

The region of the neural tube posterior to the midbrain undergoes a dramatic series of morphogenetic changes that transform it into the rhombencephalon. The most noticeable event is the establishment…