Nguyen Thanh Liem, Vu Duy Chinh, Nguyen Thi Thinh, Ngo Duy Minh, Hoang Minh Duc
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.