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    Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

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    undalli
    ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that causes the degeneration of motor neurons. It affects movement and is usually fatal within 3 to 5 years. About 10% of ALS cases are hereditary while the cause of the other 90% is unknown. Symptoms include muscle weakness, twitching, and difficulty swallowing or breathing. There is no cure, but treatment focuses on managing symptoms to maintain quality of life.

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    Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

    Uploaded by

    undalli
    690 views14 pages
    ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that causes the degeneration of motor neurons. It affects movement and is usually fatal within 3 to 5 years. About 10% of ALS cases are hereditary while the cause of the other 90% is unknown. Symptoms include muscle weakness, twitching, and difficulty swallowing or breathing. There is no cure, but treatment focuses on managing symptoms to maintain quality of life.

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    ALS is one of the important motor neuron disease.

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    ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that causes the degeneration of motor neurons. It affects movement and is usually fatal within 3 to 5 years. About 10% of ALS cases are hereditary while the cause of the other 90% is unknown. Symptoms include muscle weakness, twitching, and difficulty swallowing or breathing. There is no cure, but treatment focuses on managing symptoms to maintain quality of life.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    690 views14 pages

    Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

    Uploaded by

    undalli
    ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that causes the degeneration of motor neurons. It affects movement and is usually fatal within 3 to 5 years. About 10% of ALS cases are hereditary while the cause of the other 90% is unknown. Symptoms include muscle weakness, twitching, and difficulty swallowing or breathing. There is no cure, but treatment focuses on managing symptoms to maintain quality of life.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 14
    At a glance
    Powered by AI
    ALS is a neurodegenerative disease caused by the degeneration of motor neurons. It causes muscle weakness and atrophy. The average life expectancy after diagnosis is 3 to 5 years.

    About 10% of ALS cases are caused by genetic defects. The cause of the other 90% is unknown. Risk factors include older age and male sex.

    ALS is difficult to diagnose due to similarities with other disorders. Diagnosis involves clinical exams and tests like MRI, spinal tap, and nerve conduction tests.

    Amyotrophic Lateral

    Sclerosis

    Lou Gehrig disease


    What is Amyotrophic Lateral
    Sclerosis (ALS)?
    • ALS is a
    neurodegenerative
    disease caused by the
    degeneration of motor
    neurons that are
    responsible for
    involuntary muscle
    movement, in the brain
    and in the spinal cord.
    Causes/Risk Factors
     It causes the death of a motor nerve cell that
    transmits messages from the brain to the muscle
     In about 10% of the cases ALS is caused by a
    genetic defect, the other 90% is unknown
     The nerve neurons waste away or die leading the
    muscle to weaken , twitch and being unable to move
    the arms, legs and body
     As ALS weakens the patient it shuts down the
    nervous system messages to more and more
    muscles, particularly the ones that control breathing
    Incidence/Prevalence
     ALS affects approximately 1 of
    every 100,000 people
     Based on the U.S population
    studies a little over 5,600
    people are diagnose with ALS a
    year, that is 15 new cases a
    day.
     The life span of ALS patients is
    3 to 5 years after they are
    diagnose
     ALS is most commonly
    diagnosed in middle age people
    ASL
     Normally the muscle  In ALS the motor nerve
    tissue is supplied by the cells in the anterior
    nerves. It all happens in horns of the spinal cord
    the muscle fiber and and in the motor nuclei
    produce an action of the brain stem are
    potential, allowing the lost affecting the
    muscle to contract. innervation of the
    muscle.
    Symptoms
     muscle weakness in one or
    more of the following:
    hands, arms, legs or the
    muscles of speech,
    swallowing or breathing
     Difficulty swallowing, gags
    or chokes easily
     twitching (fasciculation) and
    cramping of muscles,
    especially those in the
    hands and feet
     impairment of the use of the
    arms and legs
    Diagnosis

     ALS is difficult to diagnose because it has


    similar symptoms of other neuromuscular
    disorders. It is through clinical examination
    and many diagnostic tests that a diagnosis
    for ALS can be established. Some of the
    procedures include:
     spinal tap
     x-rays, including magnetic
    resonance imaging (MRI)
     myelogram of cervical spine
    Treatments
     There is no known cure for
    ALS.
     The first drug treatment for
    the disease is a medicine
    called riluzole.
     The goal of the treatment is
    to control the symptoms and
    maintaining an optimal
    quality of life.
     Treatment is based on
    individual therapy and the
    continual adaptation of
    medications.
    Preventions
     There is no known way
    to prevent motor
    neuron disease or the
    dementia that goes
    along with it. This is an
    area of intense
    research in motor
    neuron diseases.
    Questions
    1)ALS is a neurodegenerative disease caused by the
    degeneration of
     A) Stem cells
     B) motor neurons
     C) nerves
     D) glial cells

    2) The life span of ALS patients is


     A) 3 to 5 years
     B) 7 days
     C) 20 years
     D) 6 moths
    3) In about 10% of the cases ALS is caused by a________, the other 90% is
    ________.
     A) Unknown, weakening of the muscle

     B) Unknown, genetic defects

     C) Generic defect, unkown

     D) Generic defect, weakening of the muscle

    4)ALS normally affects


     A) Women

     B) Children

     C) Men

     D) Baby’s

    Answers: 1) motor neurons 2) 3 to 5 years 3) Generic defect, unkown 4) Men


    Work Cited
     "Better Information. Better Health>." Web MD. August 2007. Web
    MD. 12 Nov 2007 <http://www.webmd.com>.
     "Connect to Better Health." Health Line. 01/011/2007. Healthline
    Networks. 09 Nov 2007 <http://www.healthline.com>.
     "Fighting on Every Front to Improve Living with ALS." The ALS
    Association . 1/25/04 . ALS Association. 09 Nov 2007
    <www.alsa.org>.
     "Medical College of Wisconson." Health Link. March 9, 2004 .
    Health Link. 11 Nov 2007 <http://healthlink.mcw.edu>.
     "Physician developed and monitered." Healthcommunities.com.
    July 24, 2007 . Healthcommunities. 09 Nov 2007
    <http://www.neurologychannel.com/>.
     "The Center for Neurologic Study." CNS. Wed Jul 25, 2007. 12
    Nov 2007 <http://www.cnsonline.org>.
     "The Worlds Largest Medical Library." National Library of
    Medicine. 09 November 2007. National Library of Medicine. 09
    Nov 2007 <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/>.

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