[Surgical indication in myelomeningoceles (author's transl)]

Myelomeningoceles underlie critical indication for surgical closure. Clearcut contra indications such as total congenital hydrocephalus, intracranial haemorrhage and cerebral bith-traumatic lesions, severe forms of gibbus and the combination with other severe malformations eliminate the right of active surgery. The conservative treatment neither corresponds to therapeutic nihilism nor is it the inevitability of a lethal outcome. The author does not agree with conceptions such as selection of criteria of selection according to Lorber.