TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis A1 - Amato, Anthony A. A1 - Russell, James A. PY - 2015 T2 - Neuromuscular Disorders, 2e AB - The motor neuron diseases (MNDs) are categorized by their pathological affinity for the voluntary motor system including anterior horn cells, certain motor cranial nerve nuclei, and corticospinal/bulbar tracts. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig disease, is the most notorious of these disorders. The boundaries of what is and what is not ALS, particularly in the context of early diagnosis of individual patients, remain imprecise. In this Chapter, in an attempt to distinguish ALS from other MNDs, we consider ALS to be a disorder that has the following characteristics: (1) the clinical manifestations are dominated by signs attributable to voluntary motor system dysfunction, (2) the disease progresses rapidly both within and between different body regions, (3) that life expectancy is <5 years from clinical onset in the vast majority of cases, (4) and that no other etiology can be identified. SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/04/24 UR - neurology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1115657111 ER -