Congenital Brain and Spine Malformation in Children

Dear Colleagues,

Central nervous system (CNS) malformations affecting the brain, spinal cord, and their casing (skull and spine) comprise a broad group of disorders with great heterogeneity in both pathomechanisms and clinical presentations. These disorders may be secondary to genetic, metabolic, or immune-mediated disorders, and invariably affect children’s functions. Their disease processes may take place before, during, or after neurulation, resulting in a variety of brain and spinal cord malformations. These include cerebral malformations due to neuronal proliferation/migration disorders. However, other congenital CNS malformations often require therapeutic interventions. The latter include neural dysraphism (encephalocele, myelomeningocele, spinal lipoma, split cord malformation, dermal sinus, etc.) and skull and spine malformations (craniosynostosis, Chiari malformation, craniocervical junction, or vertebral anomalies). Others are vascular malformations (AVM, AV fistula, or vein of Galen malformation), congenital hydrocephalus, and a variety of cyst developments. Cytogenetic aberrations may lead to embryonal or congenital brain tumors.

The goal of this Special Issue of Children is to highlight the scientific understanding of the factors that contribute to pediatric CNS disorders, as well as advances in therapeutic approaches across a variety of settings. We invite pediatric neurosurgeons, pediatric neurologists, neuropathologists, neuroradiologists, and other neuroscientists to share their clinical or translational research experiences in this Special Issue in the form of original research articles and review articles. It is our intention that this Special Issue will appeal to both pediatric care providers and researchers from a variety of backgrounds."

Prof. Dr. Tadanori Tomita
Dr. Hideki Ogiwara 
Prof. Edward S. Ahn
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Brain malformations
• Migration disorder
• Spine malformation
• Neural dysraphism
• Encephalocele
• Arachnoid cyst
• Hydrocephalus
• Cerebral vascular malformation
• Craniosynostosis