Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: update for the primary care clinician

According to the Mehta et al, the estimated incidence ofALS across all ages is approximately 4 to 5 persons per 100,0004 ALS is diagnosed each year in the United States in an estimated 5000 persons, with an estimated prevalence of 12,000 to 15,000 cases.[...]the neurons can no longer conduct impulse...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe clinical advisor Vol. 21; no. 6; pp. 15 - 20
Main Authors Capriotti, Teri, Donnelly, Erin, Brissenden, Simone
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hawthorne Haymarket Media, Inc 01.06.2018
Subjects
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Cognitive ability
Dementia
Etiology
Mutation
Neural networks
Neurons
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Patients
Primary care
Spinal cord
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Summary:According to the Mehta et al, the estimated incidence ofALS across all ages is approximately 4 to 5 persons per 100,0004 ALS is diagnosed each year in the United States in an estimated 5000 persons, with an estimated prevalence of 12,000 to 15,000 cases.[...]the neurons can no longer conduct impulses to the muscles, so that muscular weakness and atrophy develop.According to Gillingham et al,25 50% of persons with ALS have mild cognitive impairment with subtle executive deficits, and 10% to 15% have FTD.26'27 Diagnosis ALS is usually diagnosed on the basis of clinical symptomatology.Alternative diagnoses can usually be ruled out with neuroimaging studies and laboratory evaluation.Because ALS is a diagnosis of exclusion, a substantial delay in diagnosis, upward of 12 months after the onset of symptoms, is common, and patients may seek health care from multiple providers early in the disease course.28 No laboratory tests can identify the disorder, no biomarkers for the condition are known, and the findings on MRI and computed tomography (CT) are unremarkable.
ISSN:1524-7317