With the CIRM funding, the UC Davis team will be able to launch their one-of-a-kind treatment in the coming months. It will be delivered while the baby is still in the mother’s womb (in utero). The complex procedure, with its unique use of a stem cell “patch,” could improve outcomes for children who are born with the severe form of spina bifida known as myelomeningocele.
award-winning 2020 Connexions magazine, full of updates around fetal research, how our maternal fetal partners are improving outcomes for patient families with conditions such as spina bifida, IUGR and tetralogy of fallot, as well as learning more about PCOS and pregnancy, or the importance around birth photography.
Spina bifida, which literally means “cleft or split spine,” is the most common permanently disabling birth defect in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1,645 babies are born in the U.S. with spina bifida each year.