INTRAMEDULLARY ASTROCYTOMA PRESENTING AS SPINAL MUSCULAR-ATROPHY

We present a 6-year-old patient with a spinal cord tumor who had been followed with the diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy since the age o f 23 months. Reasons for reevaluating the diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy were the early onset of scoliosis, the slight asymmetry in we akness of extremities, and the appearance of urinary retention in the last 3 days. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a very long, intramed ullary tumor extending from the level of the seventh cervical segment to the conus medullaris, later reported to be a grade I astrocytoma. W e therefore recommend that magnetic resonance imaging, a noninvasive a nd sensitive technique for intraspinal pathologies, be performed in ev ery patient with an atypical form of spinal muscular atrophy.