Spina Bifida

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) made history in 1997 when two surgeons pioneered fetal surgery to treat spina bifida, or myelomeningocele, the most common birth defect in the central nervous system. Read More

Noel Tulipan, M.D., renowned neurosurgeon and trailblazer in fetal surgery repair for spina bifida, died Monday after a long illness. He was 64. Read More

Noel Tulipan, M.D., has left an indelible mark on many facets of life during his pioneering career at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt — from his impact on the field of neurosurgery and fetal surgery repair; to the children and families he cared for; to the residents he trained; to the operating room team he scrubbed in alongside; to his many friends and colleagues. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Junior League Fetal Center is offering ground-breaking treatments and surgeries in the hopes of providing unborn babies the best start to life. Vanderbilt’s Barb Cramer has the amazing story– and surgical video– of fetal surgery to repair an unborn baby’s spinal cord defect. For more about Vanderbilt’s Fetal Center,… Read More

When Steffanie and Jon Sawyer were told their unborn son had a spinal birth defect called spina bifida, they decided to travel from their home in the Chicago area to Vanderbilt for fetal surgery. Read More

Results of a landmark, seven-year National Institutes of Health-funded trial, Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS), demonstrate clear benefit for babies who undergo fetal surgery to treat spina bifida, the most common birth defect in the central nervous system. Read More