Diagnosis

Diagnosis: The diagnosis for ALS is not so much a single test that proves one has the disease, but a series of tests used to rule out other more common problems. Cervical spine CT scans and MRI’s tell whether there is disease or injury which can mimic some ALS symptoms. It is sometimes difficult to separate ALS from other motor neuron diseases such as Kennedy’s disease, x-likned spinobulbar muscular atrophy, cervical spondolytic myelopathy, multifocal motor neuropathy or myesthenia gravis. There is a criteria used to separate those of whom have ALS “but may be too restrictive; some patients die of ALS without qualifying for a therapeutic trial.”(Rowland 1) A diagnosis of ALS requires both upper and lower motor neuron damage. The two most important tests used to confirm the upper motor neurons include magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which measures the surviving number of neurons in the motor cortex, and magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex which assesses conduction pathways in the corticospinal tracts. The diagnosis for lower motor neurons is much more broad and weighs primarily on signs and symptoms of the patient. The symptoms are primarily those of weakness starting in the legs and arms, along with the common slurred speech and dysphagia.(difficulty swallowing) Physicians will administer breathing tests to see if respiration muscles are affected. A spinal tap would be in order to test for necrosis or lymphocytes that may be present in such auto-immune attacks. Since there are so many forms of conduction function failure it is common for a patient in early stages of the disease to go undiagnosed for some time.

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