A medical condition characterized by abnormal fusion or incomplete closing of the neural tube or other body structures during fetal development.
From Greek 'dys-' (bad/difficult) + 'raphia' (seam/suture), from 'rhaptein' (to sew). The term describes when structures that should be sewn together during development fail to fuse properly.
Spina bifida is the most famous type of dysraphia, and it shows how development is basically your body 'sewing itself together'—when that sewing process goes wrong in the neural tube, it can affect your entire nervous system.
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