he Biostatistics Center serves as the Coordinating Center for MOMS the 'Management of Myelomeningocele Study, a multi-center randomized clinical trial comparing prenatal closure of myelomeningocele defects with the standard treatment which is closure after birth (postnatal closure). Prenatal closure of these defects has been done via hysterotomy since 1997, but there is little scientific data on the risks and benefits of the procedure.

here are three participating medical institutions which are designated as MOMS Centers: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of California at San Francisco. Two hundred women carrying a fetus with myelomeningocele will be enrolled with 100 being randomized to each arm; prenatal or postnatal surgery. Recruitment is expected to start in the summer of 2002. Follow-up is planned for 12 and 30 months of age with the possibility that a grant extension will be sought for an additional follow-up evaluation at 5 years of age. Primary outcomes include death or the need for ventricular decompressive shunting by one year of life and measures of neurodevelopmental function at 30 months. Funded by NICHD, 1-U01-HD41665-01A1, 2002-2007.