It is important for the clinician to understand the embryogenesis of neural tube defects.

Clearly, spina bifida is a complex, heterogeneous disorder whose eti­ology in humans appears to be multifactorial. In sim­ple terms, however, spina bifida, classically defined as meningocele and myelomeningocele, is the conse­quence of neural tube closure failure during embry­onic development. The following section discusses normal central nervous system (CNS) embryogenesis and the pathological differences associated with these neural tube defects (3-6).