Successful Pregnancy in a Patient with Spinal Muscular Atrophy and Severe Kyphoscoliosis

Abstract

Yim R, Kirschner K, Murphy E, Parson J, Winslow C: Successful pregnancy in a patient with spinal muscular atrophy and severe kyphoscoliosis. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 2003;82:222–225. Pregnancy imposes a load on the respiratory system that is usually easily assumed because of alterations in the thoracoabdominal architecture. It is presumed that the respiratory mechanical disadvantage of severe kyphoscoliosis and the muscle weakness of spinal muscular atrophy impede these adaptations sufficiently to preclude a successful gestation. We report the case of a successful pregnancy in a woman with spinal muscular atrophy, severe uncorrected scoliosis, and the lowest spirometric values reported in the literature without the use of ventilatory support. This patient demonstrates that women with severe kyphoscoliosis and a profound ventilatory limitation can carry a successful pregnancy well into the third trimester without requiring full ventilatory support.