Lou Gehrig's/ ALS
Jaskirt & Alyssia
Is Lou Gehrigs's the same as ALS?
· Lou Gehrig was known as professional baseball's "Ironman"
· At the peak of his career, he was diagnosed as having ALS
· Died 2 years later, at age 39

What is ALS?
· Rapidly progressive, neuromuscular disease
· Attacks the motor neurons transmit electrical impulses from the brain to muscles
· Muscles fail to receive messages = lose strength, atrophy and die
· Average life expectancy after diagnosis: 3 to 5 years

Gene Mutation of ALS
· C9ORF72
o This gene, discovered in 2011, is the most common genetic cause of ALS (position of an “open reading frame” on chromosome 9)
o Mutations in this gene account for between 25% and 40% of all familial ALS cases gene mutation and act in a dominant manner
o How this gene causes ALS is unknown

Symptoms
· Early signs/symptoms
- Difficulty walking, tripping or difficulty doing your normal daily activities
- Weakness in your leg, feet or ankles
- Hand weakness or clumsiness
- Slurring of speech or trouble swallowing
- Muscle cramps and twitching in your arms, shoulders and tongue
- Difficulty holding your head up or keeping a good posture
- Disease begins in your hands, feet or limbs, and then spread
- Muscles become progressively weaker
- Affects chewing, swallowing, speaking and breathing
- Usually doesn’t affect bowel or bladder control, senses or thinking ability
Diagnosis
· difficult to diagnose early because it may appear similar to other neurological diseases
· Tests to rule out other conditions:
o Electromyogram (EMG)
§ Inserts a needle electrode through your skin into various muscles
§ Evaluates the electrical activity of your muscles when they contract and rest
- Nerve conduction study
- This study measures your nerves' ability to send impulses to muscles in different areas of your body
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- produce brain and spine image
- Blood and urine tests
- Analyzing samples of your blood and urine
- Spinal tap (lumbar puncture)
- Remove a sample spinal fluid for analysis
- Inserts a small needle between two vertebrae in your lower back and removes a small amount of cerebrospinal fluid
- Muscle biopsy
- Portion of your muscle is removed and analyzed

Medication
· ALS cannot be reversed
· Treatments: slow down progress of symptoms and prevent complications
- Riuzole (rilutek) is the only medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration for ALS
- Slows down the progression of symptoms and disease

Therapy
· Breathing care
· Physical therapy
· Occupational therapy
· Speech therapy
Risk Factors
- Heredity
- Age
- Sex/Gender
· Environmental factors
- Smoking
- Lead exposure