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American Morning

'House Call'

Aired October 08, 2003 - 08:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Each year as many as 4,000 children are born with the birth defect spina bifida. There is no cure, but there's new hope for treating the disease in utero.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us with important details on this -- good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

One of the most common, yet one of the most debilitating birth defects, as well, spina bifida. Basically the spinal cord is under developed and all the bones surrounding it don't form properly. So the spinal cord is actually exposed, as well. Sort of debilitating.

No one knows about this better, though, than one of our own in the CNN family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): The fight for new treatments for spina bifida is a personal one for Judy Woodruff and Al Hunt. Their son Jeffrey was born with the condition 22 years ago.

JUDY WOODRUFF, SON BORN WITH SPINA BIFIDA: His spine, spinal cord, was open to the outside and they had to do a procedure when he was just not even a day old to close that up and put the spinal cord back inside.

AL HUNT, SON BORN WITH SPINA BIFIDA: It really was a shock. I wasn't quite sure what it meant he -- what kind of life he would have.

GUPTA: Because the opening was lower in his spine, Jeffrey was fortunate. He walked and developed almost normally.

WOODRUFF: We saw physical therapists. There were people who came to the house to work with him. We took him to many, many doctor visits, many hospital visits.

GUPTA: Like most people with spina bifida, Jeffrey required a shunt to drain excess fluid from his brain. Much of his debilitation now is from a complication when he was 16 involving that shunt. Since Jeffrey was born, there has been very little promising research or new treatments.

But now a clinical trial is looking at an innovative operation performed in utero to close the opining. The trial is called the Management of Myelomeningocele Study, or MOMS. The surgery takes place when the fetus is just 19 weeks old.

DR. CATHERINE SHAER, MOMS: They actually close up that open spinal cord and close the tissues over it in a very similar way as they would do after the baby is born.

GUPTA: The hope is that this operation will prevent the damage that is occurring to the exposed spinal cord during the pregnancy. And those in the spina bifida community are encouraged and hopeful.

HAL POTE, SPINA BIFIDA ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: The MOMS study could result in improved quality of life for folks with spina bifida for generations to come.

GUPTA: It will be at least three years before the initial results are in and doctors know whether in utero surgery is better for the baby.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Well, talking about in utero surgery here, this is probably the next frontier to try and cure some of these birth defects operating as early as 19 weeks on the fetus, in the case of spina bifida.

O'BRIEN: Well, let's talk about it. And, as you mentioned, the report three years away before they really know. But there are some basic things that expectant or moms who are hoping to be expectant moms can do right now in order to protect themselves against spina bifida?

GUPTA: That's right. Really important, really easy. You know, '92, so 11 years ago now, folic acid -- people talk about this all the time -- was a recommendation for pregnant women, 400 milligrams a day of folic acid could probably reduce the risk of this particular birth defect, spina bifida, by 75 percent, just the folic acid.

You know, we talked to Judy about this and she said when Jeffrey was born, she didn't know about this yet. This recommendation really came about back in 1992.

O'BRIEN: All right, well, good advice.

GUPTA: I should point out, as well, Judy and Al host this great fundraiser.

O'BRIEN: Right.

GUPTA: It's a roast, it's tonight, to try and raise money. They're obviously doing a lot for this particular event still, a great cause.

O'BRIEN: Yes, and they've been very dedicated to the cause, certainly.

GUPTA: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thanks, as always.

GUPTA: Good to see you. Yes.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 8, 2003 - 08:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Each year as many as 4,000 children are born with the birth defect spina bifida. There is no cure, but there's new hope for treating the disease in utero.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us with important details on this -- good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

One of the most common, yet one of the most debilitating birth defects, as well, spina bifida. Basically the spinal cord is under developed and all the bones surrounding it don't form properly. So the spinal cord is actually exposed, as well. Sort of debilitating.

No one knows about this better, though, than one of our own in the CNN family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): The fight for new treatments for spina bifida is a personal one for Judy Woodruff and Al Hunt. Their son Jeffrey was born with the condition 22 years ago.

JUDY WOODRUFF, SON BORN WITH SPINA BIFIDA: His spine, spinal cord, was open to the outside and they had to do a procedure when he was just not even a day old to close that up and put the spinal cord back inside.

AL HUNT, SON BORN WITH SPINA BIFIDA: It really was a shock. I wasn't quite sure what it meant he -- what kind of life he would have.

GUPTA: Because the opening was lower in his spine, Jeffrey was fortunate. He walked and developed almost normally.

WOODRUFF: We saw physical therapists. There were people who came to the house to work with him. We took him to many, many doctor visits, many hospital visits.

GUPTA: Like most people with spina bifida, Jeffrey required a shunt to drain excess fluid from his brain. Much of his debilitation now is from a complication when he was 16 involving that shunt. Since Jeffrey was born, there has been very little promising research or new treatments.

But now a clinical trial is looking at an innovative operation performed in utero to close the opining. The trial is called the Management of Myelomeningocele Study, or MOMS. The surgery takes place when the fetus is just 19 weeks old.

DR. CATHERINE SHAER, MOMS: They actually close up that open spinal cord and close the tissues over it in a very similar way as they would do after the baby is born.

GUPTA: The hope is that this operation will prevent the damage that is occurring to the exposed spinal cord during the pregnancy. And those in the spina bifida community are encouraged and hopeful.

HAL POTE, SPINA BIFIDA ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: The MOMS study could result in improved quality of life for folks with spina bifida for generations to come.

GUPTA: It will be at least three years before the initial results are in and doctors know whether in utero surgery is better for the baby.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Well, talking about in utero surgery here, this is probably the next frontier to try and cure some of these birth defects operating as early as 19 weeks on the fetus, in the case of spina bifida.

O'BRIEN: Well, let's talk about it. And, as you mentioned, the report three years away before they really know. But there are some basic things that expectant or moms who are hoping to be expectant moms can do right now in order to protect themselves against spina bifida?

GUPTA: That's right. Really important, really easy. You know, '92, so 11 years ago now, folic acid -- people talk about this all the time -- was a recommendation for pregnant women, 400 milligrams a day of folic acid could probably reduce the risk of this particular birth defect, spina bifida, by 75 percent, just the folic acid.

You know, we talked to Judy about this and she said when Jeffrey was born, she didn't know about this yet. This recommendation really came about back in 1992.

O'BRIEN: All right, well, good advice.

GUPTA: I should point out, as well, Judy and Al host this great fundraiser.

O'BRIEN: Right.

GUPTA: It's a roast, it's tonight, to try and raise money. They're obviously doing a lot for this particular event still, a great cause.

O'BRIEN: Yes, and they've been very dedicated to the cause, certainly.

GUPTA: Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thanks, as always.

GUPTA: Good to see you. Yes.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com