Anencephaly

A congenital condition in which an infant is born without a brain or spinal cord or with severe deformities in brain tissue. Infants are most frequently 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.