A compendium of three decades of experience and research with the largest group of patients with myelodysplasia in North America, Dr Shurtleff's book is a scholarly collection of his own clinical data from the University of Washington, Seattle, plus those published in the last quarter century (1256 references). Practical management of medical, physical, and psychological problems is detailed, and neurologic and urologic surgical techniques and orthopedic aspects are also discussed.
One should not be diverted by the inclusion of exstrophies in the title, as only one of the 22 chapters is devoted to that set of anomalies. The bulk of the book dissects the problems and treatment of persons with myelomeningocele and is divided into sections covering the gamut: ethical controversies, embryology and prenatal diagnosis, back closure and hydrocephalus, bowel and bladder and toilet training, obesity and decubiti, and cognitive and psychosocial problems.
Particularly informative is the long-term collection of