A Case Report of a Pregnant Gene Carrier of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Abstract

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease characterized by degeneration of spinal cord motor neurons, atrophy of skeletal muscles, and generalized weakness. It is caused by gene deletions or other mutations in the survival motor neuron 1 gene on chromosome 5q13. There are three types of SMA. Of these types, SMA type 1 (SMA1) is distinguished by the disease onset before 6 months of age and death within the first two years of life. We report a case study of a pregnant SMA1 gene carrier for whom a prenatal diagnosis was performed. The woman delivered a healthy baby, and she was free of anxiety due to the prenatal diagnosis. The case was a 34-year-old woman with a history of giving birth to children with SMA1(3 gravida 2 para). The first baby was diagnosed with SMA1 and died 9 months later. During her second pregnancy, the fetus was prenatally diagnosed with SMA1, and the parents chose to have an artificial abortion. In her third pregnancy, the fetus was prenatally diagnosed as a gene carrier of SMA1 and was delivered. During her fourth pregnancy, a prenatal diagnosis was performed using amniocentesis after genetic counseling, and the fetus was diagnosed as a gene carrier of SMA1. A 3.310 g female baby was delivered with Apgar scores of 9 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes. When a prenatal diagnosis of SMA is performed, various guidelines should be followed, and the patient should be provided with genetic counseling.