Anencephaly: Late Diagnosis and Management in a District Hospital in Bamako, Mali—Case Report

Anencephaly is a defect in the closure of the neural tube. It is a congenital anomaly characterized by the total or partial absence of the cranial vault, the brain being reduced to a small mass. Most of the cases are stillborn, but newborns have been observed to survive from a few hours to a few days. Its prevalence at birth is between one (1) case per 5000 and one (1) case per 2000 live births. Prenatal diagnosis can easily be done by using ultrasound from the first trimester of pregnancy, given the absence of visibility of the cranial vault. We report a case of anencephaly in a poorly monitored diabetic multiparous woman, discovered late after an ultrasound scan at 30 weeks’ gestation. Delivery was spontaneous at 34 weeks’ gestation at the same centre, resulting in a female infant with an APGAR score of 6, presenting with anencephaly and surviving for 15 minutes. The occurrence of such a pregnancy constitutes a high-risk situation that can lead to maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. But, early diagnosis by ultrasound and good antenatal care can improve the situation.