[How I do it: surgical treatment of myelomeningocele]

In Argentina there is national program for fortifying flour with folic acid. Prenatal diagnosis is not always accurate. Closure according to standard technique. We close muscle layer. We don × t favor corpectomy for kyphosis. We suture the placode to restore cylinder shape of the cord. We close muscle layer. Hydrocephalus: V-P shunt. Third ventriculostomy is not effective. Chiari II: Cervical laminectomy. Syringomyelia: We shunt the syrinx to the peritoneum. MMCL is the most common neural tube defect. It consists of a neural placode exposed to environment. The placode is surrounded by arachnoid and by thin epithelial tissue.