preview

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Good Essays

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also knows at Lou Gehrig’s diseases is a motor neuron disease that affect the motor system specially the anterior motor horn cells, corticobulbar/corticospinal tracts, and motor cranial nerves. ALS is a fatal and the causes are unknown. A small percent of the ALS patients are known to have familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS causes severe muscle atrophy since the neuron cell connections to the muscle are lost. After many studies the scientist were able to find evidence that imply that the skeletal muscle tissue is the principal target of ALS toxicity. Until today the pathophysiological mechanism of both familial and sporadic ALS are unknown. After many years of research the scientific community was …show more content…

What makes ALS fatal is that there is no treatment that stops or reverse the progression of the disease. ALS, cause a lot of patient and caregiver emotional and physical stress which in return affect the patient even more. Any ALS patient after receiving diagnosis there life expectancy is from two to three years. Although with all new development like invasive mechanical ventilation the patient life can be extended. Recently scientific discoveries are making clearer the disease cellular process, which open new doors to find better multidisciplinary treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis leading to the main goal of finding a …show more content…

After many years of studies there is a way to manage the symptoms and to extend the life of the patients. In 1994, Rilutek was approved and is the only drug used for ALS (Bensimon G, Lacomblez L. Meninger V 1994). This drugs benefits still really low when the progression of ALS is really fast, Rilutek only slow the progression of the disease by ten percent. Unfortunately, the benefit is not the same for every patient and many can not tolerated or see any benefits from taking the medication. Also, the high prices for Rilutek make it even more difficult for patient without any insurance or monetary availability to pay for the drug. The care for an ALS patient required a lot of education, counseling and symptoms

Get Access