Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital participated in a landmark study that shows babies who have corrective surgery for a serious form of spina bifida while in the uterus experience a reduction in life-threatening hydrocephalus and have increased ability to walk.

The findings of the study were published in the Feb. 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. From The Reporter: "The results are very exciting and confirm what our surgeons and researchers found back in 1999," said John Brock III, M.D., surgeon-in-chief for the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, and principal investigator for the Vanderbilt site of MOMS.