Skip to main content
Advertisement
  • Neurology.org
  • Journals
    • Neurology
    • Clinical Practice
    • Education
    • Genetics
    • Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation
  • Online Sections
    • Neurology Video Journal Club
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)
    • Neurology: Clinical Practice Accelerator
    • Practice Buzz
    • Practice Current
    • Residents & Fellows
    • Without Borders
  • Collections
    • COVID-19
    • Disputes & Debates
    • Health Disparities
    • Infographics
    • Neurology Future Forecasting Series
    • Null Hypothesis
    • Patient Pages
    • Topics A-Z
    • Translations
  • Podcast
  • CME
  • About
    • About the Journals
    • Contact Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Authors
    • Submit New Manuscript
    • Submit Revised Manuscript
    • Author Center

Advanced Search

Main menu

  • Neurology.org
  • Journals
    • Neurology
    • Clinical Practice
    • Education
    • Genetics
    • Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation
  • Online Sections
    • Neurology Video Journal Club
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)
    • Neurology: Clinical Practice Accelerator
    • Practice Buzz
    • Practice Current
    • Residents & Fellows
    • Without Borders
  • Collections
    • COVID-19
    • Disputes & Debates
    • Health Disparities
    • Infographics
    • Neurology Future Forecasting Series
    • Null Hypothesis
    • Patient Pages
    • Topics A-Z
    • Translations
  • Podcast
  • CME
  • About
    • About the Journals
    • Contact Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Authors
    • Submit New Manuscript
    • Submit Revised Manuscript
    • Author Center
  • Home
  • Latest Articles
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Neurology Video Journal Club
  • Residents & Fellows

User menu

  • Subscribe
  • My Alerts
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Neurology
Home
The most widely read and highly cited peer-reviewed neurology journal
  • Subscribe
  • My Alerts
  • Log in
Site Logo
  • Home
  • Latest Articles
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Neurology Video Journal Club
  • Residents & Fellows

Share

April 01, 1997; 48 (4 Suppl 4) Articles

Symptomatic treatment of ALS

Robert Sufit
First published April 1, 1997, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.48.4_Suppl_4.15S
Robert Sufit
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Full PDF
Citation
Symptomatic treatment of ALS
Robert Sufit
Neurology Apr 1997, 48 (4 Suppl 4) 15S-22S; DOI: 10.1212/WNL.48.4_Suppl_4.15S

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Permissions

Make Comment

See Comments

Downloads
110

Share

  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Disclosures
Loading

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Patients with symptoms suggestive of a progressive neurologic disease, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), usually seek an initial medical consult to obtain a diagnosis, although their primary goal is ultimately to obtain some form of treatment that will ameliorate their condition. However, physicians can easily become focused on the etiologic aspects of the disorder in the pursuit of a definitive diagnosis. Patients respond by becoming preoccupied with the clinical significance of specific clinical and laboratory findings and determining how these relate to the pathophysiology of the disease. Therefore, it is often necessary for both the physician and the patient to shift their focus of attention away from diagnostic issues and to concentrate their efforts on identifying the interventions that will best lessen disease progression and/or provide symptomatic relief.

Two types of treatment options are available for patients with ALS: those that are disease-specific and those that are patient-specific. As discussed in detail elsewhere in this issue, there is an expanding armamentarium of potentially useful pharmacologic agents for the treatment of ALS. Riluzole, a glutamate antagonist, is the only agent approved for the treatment of ALS. Others (e.g., other glutamate inhibitors, neurotrophic factors) are now undergoing clinical trials or are being used on an experimental basis. Although at present there is no cure for ALS, a drug such as riluzole has been shown to slow disease progression and improve survival outcomes. [1,2] Disease-specific therapies are only one aspect of an overall management program for ALS. Many symptomatic treatments designed to enhance the patient's overall quality of life by mitigating the complications of ALS and enhancing patient comfort provide an equally important dimension of patient care.

This article discusses the approaches now in use to manage some of the most common symptoms of ALS, including the following: impaired speech and other …

View Full Text

AAN Members

We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.

Google Safari Microsoft Edge Firefox

Click here to login

AAN Non-Member Subscribers

Click here to login

Purchase access

For assistance, please contact:
AAN Members (800) 879-1960 or (612) 928-6000 (International)
Non-AAN Member subscribers (800) 638-3030 or (301) 223-2300 option 3, select 1 (international)

Sign Up
Information on how to subscribe to Neurology and Neurology: Clinical Practice can be found here 

Purchase
Individual access to articles is available through the Add to Cart option on the article page.  Access for 1 day (from the computer you are currently using) is US$ 39.00.  Pay-per-view content is for the use of the payee only, and content may not be further distributed by print or electronic means.  The payee may view, download, and/or print the article for his/her personal, scholarly, research, and educational use.  Distributing copies (electronic or otherwise) of the article is not allowed.

Letters: Rapid online correspondence

No comments have been published for this article.
Comment

REQUIREMENTS

You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.

Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.

If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.

Submission specifications:

  • Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
  • Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
  • Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
  • Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
  • Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.

More guidelines and information on Disputes & Debates

Compose Comment

More information about text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Author Information
NOTE: The first author must also be the corresponding author of the comment.
First or given name, e.g. 'Peter'.
Your last, or family, name, e.g. 'MacMoody'.
Your email address, e.g. higgs-boson@gmail.com
Your role and/or occupation, e.g. 'Orthopedic Surgeon'.
Your organization or institution (if applicable), e.g. 'Royal Free Hospital'.
Publishing Agreement
NOTE: All authors, besides the first/corresponding author, must complete a separate Publishing Agreement Form and provide via email to the editorial office before comments can be posted.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Vertical Tabs

You May Also be Interested in

Back to top
  • Article
    • Speech difficulties.
    • Swallowing.
    • Salivation and drooling.
    • Sleep disorders and fatigue.
    • Respiratory dysfunction.
    • Activities of daily living.
    • Ambulation.
    • Miscellaneous problems.
    • Conclusion.
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Disclosures
Advertisement

Safety and Efficacy of Tenecteplase and Alteplase in Patients With Tandem Lesion Stroke: A Post Hoc Analysis of the EXTEND-IA TNK Trials

Dr. Nicole Sur and Dr. Mausaminben Hathidara

► Watch

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.

Alert Me

  • Alert me when eletters are published

Recommended articles

  • Special Article
    Practice Parameter update: The care of the patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Drug, nutritional, and respiratory therapies (an evidence-based review)
    Report of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology
    R. G. Miller, C. E. Jackson, E. J. Kasarskis et al.
    Neurology, October 12, 2009
  • Articles
    Patient and caregiver communications and decisions
    Deborah Gelinas et al.
    Neurology, April 01, 1997
  • Articles
    Patient-ventilator asynchrony with nocturnal noninvasive ventilation in ALS
    A.D. Atkeson, A. RoyChoudhury, G. Harrington-Moroney et al.
    Neurology, July 27, 2011
  • Article
    Trial of early noninvasive ventilation for ALS
    A pilot placebo-controlled study
    Teresa L. Jacobs, Devin L. Brown, Jonggyu Baek et al.
    Neurology, August 31, 2016
Neurology: 100 (23)

Articles

  • Ahead of Print
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Popular Articles
  • Translations

About

  • About the Journals
  • Ethics Policies
  • Editors & Editorial Board
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise

Submit

  • Author Center
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Information for Reviewers
  • AAN Guidelines
  • Permissions

Subscribers

  • Subscribe
  • Activate a Subscription
  • Sign up for eAlerts
  • RSS Feed
Site Logo
  • Visit neurology Template on Facebook
  • Follow neurology Template on Twitter
  • Visit Neurology on YouTube
  • Neurology
  • Neurology: Clinical Practice
  • Neurology: Education
  • Neurology: Genetics
  • Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation
  • AAN.com
  • AANnews
  • Continuum
  • Brain & Life
  • Neurology Today

Wolters Kluwer Logo

Neurology | Print ISSN:0028-3878
Online ISSN:1526-632X

© 2023 American Academy of Neurology

  • Privacy Policy
  • Feedback
  • Advertise