Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

(ALS)

Health Careers ProjectIrvin Hernandez

Period: 4

What is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis?

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a rapidly progressive invariably fatal neurological disease that attacks the nerve cells (neurons) that are responsible for controlling voluntary muscles.

• Upper Motor Neurons(In Brain) and Lower Motor Neurons(Spinal Cord) degenerate or die. Therefore, no messages are sent to muscles causing them to weaken and eventually lose function.

What is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? Continued…

• The disease belongs to a group of disorders known as motor neuron diseases, which are characterized by the gradual degeneration and death of motor neurons.

Signs And Symptoms• ALS may be so subtle that the symptoms are frequently overlooked.• Early symptoms may include:

• Twitching • Cramping• Stiffness of muscles • Muscle Weakness Affecting

• Slurred• Nasal Speech • Difficulty Chewing• Difficulty Swallowing

• These general complaints then develop into more obvious weakness or atrophy that may cause a physician to suspect ALS.

• The parts of the body affected by early symptoms of ALS depend on which muscles in the body are damaged first.

Current State of Disease

•ALS is one of the most common neuromuscular diseases worldwide. •ALS most commonly strikes people between 40 and 60 years of age, but younger and older people also can develop the disease. •Men are affected more often than women.

Current State of DiseaseContinued…

• As many as 20,000-30,000 people in the United States have ALS, and an estimated 5,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with the disease each year.

• In 90 to 95 percent of all ALS cases, the disease occurs apparently at random with no clearly associated risk factors

• About 5 to 10 percent of all ALS cases are inherited.

Mode of Transmission

• The cause of ALS is not known, and scientists do not yet know why ALS strikes some people and not others.

• However, in 1993, a group of scientists supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) discovered that mutations in the genes may be the cause of some cases of ASL.

Past History

• ALS is often called Lou Gehrig’s Disease because in 1939 a famous New York Yankees player was diagnosed with ALS and gave a speech in front of thousands of people.

Past Treatments

• There are no known cure for this disease therefore there was nothing doctors could do other than giving them medication to prolong the lives.

Current Treatments

• Since there is no known cure for ALS, doctors have developed medications, special equipment and therapies to help prolong patients lives.

• The only thing doctors can do is relieve and ease the symptoms and hope for the best.

Future Treatments

• Scientists are still trying to understand what causes ALS and are trying to find a cure for it.

• They are developing many theories and medications to help cure ALS.