Successful pregnancy in a patient with spinal muscular atrophy and severe kyphoscoliosis
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Published on: September 16, 2022
Roger Yim1, Kristi Kirschner, Eileen Murphy
1Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Northwestern University and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
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.
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.
