Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Case Study

Commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease where the motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord die (Harmon, 2012). Diagnosis generally occurs after age fifty and from that point, the patient generally has three to five years until his/her motor neurons controlling the diaphragm die, resulting in death by asphyxiation (Al-Chalabi et al., 2014; “Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,” n.d.). An anomaly to this generalization is Stephen Hawking who was diagnosed with ALS when he was twenty-one years old and is still living today at the age of seventy-three (Harmon, 2012). Hawking’s case, along with many other patients living with ALS demonstrate the uncertainties of the disease regarding both its cause, and more importantly, its cure.
Diagnosis …show more content…
To begin the diagnosis, the patient must show degenerations of both lower and upper motor neurons, which can be confirmed through clinical examination (“Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,” n.d.). An electromyogram is used when ALS is suspected, which measures both the signals between nerves and muscles and the electrical activity within the muscles themselves (“Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,” n.d.). If the results are consistent with that of ALS, the patient will undergo an MRI and testing of the fluid around the spinal cord via spinal tap or lumbar puncture (“Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,” n.d.). Examples of other diseases that resemble early ALS include some muscular dystrophies, spinal-bulbar muscular atrophy, adult-onset spinal muscular atrophy, and myasthenia gravis (“Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,”