Abstract

BACKGROUND: Bowel dysfunction is observed in 42.2–71.2% of patients with spina bifida. Traditional treatments yield limited results. The objective of this paper is to report on improvement in bowel function in 2 children with spina bifida following bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells transplantation.

CASE REPORT: Two patients – 14 years old and 11 years old – with bowel dysfunction after myelomeningocele repair underwent 2 BMMNC transplantations without complications. Those patients had normal defecation, assessed through follow-ups of 21 months and 16 months, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: BMMNC transplantation can improve bowel function, as demonstrated in 2 patients with spina bifida.

Keywords: adult stem cells, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Spina Bifida Occulta