Transcript Health Careers: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
(ALS)
Health Careers Project
Irvin 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 Disease
Continued…
• 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.