The prognostic value of spirometric tests in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients

Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery
Alice PirolaChristian Lunetta

Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients tend to develop progressive respiratory muscle weakness, leading to ventilatory failure and ineffective cough, principal causes of morbidity and mortality. Since patients are usually unaware of these symptoms, these are generally not noticed until the advanced stages and are associated with poor prognosis. The monitoring of respiratory function on a regular basis is therefore of great importance. Despite the availability of several pulmonary function tests, none of them was found to be the best indicator of the disease progression throughout the course of this condition. The main aim of our work was to evaluate the prognostic value of these respiratory measures evaluated in a brief period of observation and their correlation with motor functional impairments in an ALS cohort. Patients with ALS who had respiratory assessments performed and functional motor scales administered at baseline and six months later were included. All patients were assessed with forced vital capacity, both in seated and supine position (FVC; sFVC), peak expiratory flow (PEF), peak expiratory cough flow (PCEF), the revised ALS functional rating scale (ALSFRS-R), at baseline and after six months, and their dise...Continue Reading

Citations

Jun 3, 2021·Muscle & Nerve·Salah A DaghlasUNKNOWN Pooled Resource Open-Access ALS Clinical Trials Consortium

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