Bioengineering a vaginal replacement using a small biopsy of autologous tissue.

Many congenital and acquired diseases result in the absence of a normal vagina. Patients with these conditions often require reconstructive surgery to achieve satisfactory cosmesis and physiological function, and a variety of materials have been used as tissue sources. Currently employed graft materials such as collagen scaffolds and small intestine are not ideal in that they fail to mimic the physiology of normal vaginal tissue.

Bladder and external urethral sphincter function after prenatal closure of myelomeningocele.

Purpose: We compared urodynamic findings in patients who underwent prenatal closure of myelomeningocele with those of patients who underwent postnatal closure, and equivalent lower urinary tract evaluations.

Materials And Methods: Urodynamic studies of 5 patients (2 boys, 3 girls) who underwent prenatal closure of myelomeningocele were compared to those of 88 patients with similar level lesions who underwent repair postnatally between 1979 and 2002.

Results: All 5 patients in the prenatally treated cohort had lower lumbosacral lesions on neurological examination.