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Key facts

Medical condition.name

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Medical condition.image

ALS Affected neurons and muscles.png

Medical condition.caption

Parts of the nervous system affected by ALS, causing progressive symptoms in skeletal muscles throughout the body

Medical condition.field

Neurology

Medical condition.symptoms

Early: Stiff muscles, muscle twitches, gradual increasing weakness Late: Difficulty in speaking, swallowing, and breathing; respiratory failure; Rare: frontotemporal dementia

Medical condition.complications

Falling; Respiratory failure; Pneumonia; Malnutrition

Medical condition.onset

45–75 years

Medical condition.causes

Unknown (90% to 95%) or genetic (5% to 10%)

Medical condition.risks

Genetic risk factors, age, male sex, heavy metals, organic chemicals, smoking, electric shock, head injury

Medical condition.diagnosis

Clinical diagnosis of exclusion based on progressive symptoms of upper and lower motor neuron degeneration for which no other explanation can be found. Supportive evidence from electromyography, genetic testing, and neuroimaging

Medical condition.differential

Multifocal motor neuropathy, Kennedy's disease, hereditary spastic paraplegia, nerve compression syndrome, diabetic neuropathy, post-polio syndrome, myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis

Medical condition.treatment

Walker, wheelchair, non-invasive ventilation, feeding tube, augmentative and alternative communication, symptomatic management

Medical condition.medication

Riluzole, edaravone, tofersen, dextromethorphan/quinidine

Medical condition.prognosis

Life expectancy is highly variable, but typically 2–4 years after diagnosis

Medical condition.alt

Diagram of a human nervous system highlighting the brain, spinal cord, motor neurons, and muscles of the body affected by ALS

via Wikipedia infobox

• [Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - diagnosis, course of disease and treatment options].ReviewDeutsche medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2021Meyer TDOI: 10.1055/a-1562-7882
• The epidemiology of ALS: a conspiracy of genes, environment and time.ReviewNature reviews. Neurology · 2013Al-Chalabi A, Hardiman ODOI: 10.1038/nrneurol.2013.203
• Pathophysiology and Diagnosis of ALS: Insights from Advances in Neurophysiological Techniques.ReviewInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2019van den Bos MAJ, Geevasinga N, Higashihara M et al.DOI: 10.3390/ijms20112818
• Genetics of ALS - genes and modifier.ReviewCurrent opinion in neurology · 2025Menge S, Decker L, Freischmidt ADOI: 10.1097/WCO.0000000000001416
• ALS.ReviewNeurology · 1996Jerusalem F, Pohl C, Karitzky J et al.DOI: 10.1212/wnl.47.6_suppl_4.218s
• ALS molecular subtypes are a combination of cellular and pathological features learned by deep multiomics classifiers.Cell reports · 2025O'Neill K, Shaw R, Bolger I et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115402
• Studying ALS: Current Approaches, Effect on Potential Treatment Strategy.ReviewAdvances in experimental medicine and biology · 2020Ustyantseva EI, Medvedev SP, Zakian SMDOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-41283-8_11
• Access for ALL in ALS: A large-scale, inclusive, collaborative consortium to unlock the molecular and genetic mechanisms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.ReviewMuscle & nerve · 2024Berry JD, Paganoni S, Harms MB et al.DOI: 10.1002/mus.28244

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Instance of

symptom or sign

Subclass of

disease

Named after

Jean-Martin Charcot

Image

ALS Coronal.jpg

via Wikidata · CC0