The Prevalence of Post-operative Complications Following Meningomyelocele Repair

Objective:  To assess the incidence of post-operative complications after meningomyelocele repair in patients presenting with Meningocele. Materials & Methods:  All the patients presenting with meningocele and myelomeningocele, age between 1 day to 5 years, both genders and patients with ASA grade I and II were included. All the baseline /routine hospital investigation was done, the lesions were assessed for age, size duration of symptoms, and location and were checked for cerebrospinal fluid leaks. The presence of associated abnormalities was evaluated. The patients were given antibiotics as per protocol before and after surgery to prevent infection. All patients were observed closely in the post-operative period for development and timely management of any complications. Results:  Among 145 children, 9% of children had defects in the cranio cervical and 91% of children had defects in the lumbosacral. 15% children had myelomeningocele size ?3 cm while 85% of children had myelomeningocele size >3 cm. 83% of children were male and 17% of children were female. 18% of children had wound infection, 6% of children had wound dehiscence and 26% of children had CSF Leak. Stratification of postoperative complications concerning age, gender, location of NTD (cranio cervical/lumbo sacral), size (? 3 cm & > 3 cm), duration of symptoms (? 1 month & 1 month), malnourished (yes/no) showed the insignificant differences. Conclusion:  The frequency of post-operative complications i.e. wound infection was 18%, wound dehiscence was 6% and CSF Leak was 26% after meningomyelocele repair in patients presenting with Meningocele.