Diseases

Anencephaly

A malformation of the nervous system caused by failure of the anterior neuropore to close. Infants are born with intact spinal cords, cerebellums, and brainstems, but lack formation of neural structures above this level. The skull is only partially formed but the eyes are usually normal. This condition may be associated with folate deficiency. Affected infants are only capable of primitive (brain stem) reflexes and usually do not survive for more than two weeks. (From Menkes, Textbook of Child Neurology, 5th ed, p247)

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

A malformation of the nervous system caused by failure of the anterior neuropore to close. Infants are born with intact spinal cords, cerebellums, and brainstems, but lack formation of neural structures above this level. The skull is only partially formed but the eyes are usually normal. This condition may be associated with folate deficiency. Affected infants are only capable of primitive (brain stem) reflexes and usually do not survive for more than two weeks. (From Menkes, Textbook of Child Neurology, 5th ed, p247)

MeSH Record

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Broader headings

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Synonyms

16 entry terms
  • Absence of Brain, Congenital
  • Anencephalia
  • Anencephalus
  • Congenital Absence of Brain
  • Anencephalias
  • Brain Congenital Absence
  • Aprosencephaly
  • Hemicranial Anencephaly
  • Incomplete Anencephaly
  • Partial Anencephaly
  • Anencephalies, Partial
  • Anencephaly, Hemicranial
  • Anencephaly, Incomplete
  • Anencephaly, Partial
  • Aprosencephalies
  • Partial Anencephalies

MeSH Record

Aspects Covered

34 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings blood, cerebrospinal fluid, chemically induced, classification, complications, diagnosis, diagnostic imaging, diet therapy, drug therapy, economics, embryology, enzymology, epidemiology, ethnology, etiology, genetics, history, immunology, metabolism, microbiology, mortality, nursing, parasitology, pathology, physiopathology, prevention & control, psychology, radiotherapy, rehabilitation, surgery, therapy, urine, veterinary, virology.

MeSH Record

History Note

79; was ANENCEPHALUS 1964-78 (Prov 1964-65)

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Numbers

  1. C10w.500w.680w.196w
  2. C16w.131w.085w.197w
  3. C16w.131w.666w.680w.196w

MeSH Record

NLM Classification

WL 101

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Anencephaly. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D000757. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D000757
  2. Anencephaly. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anencephaly
  3. Anencephaly. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q529292