What are the clinical criteria of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by clinical form?
Vial, C.
Revue Neurologique (Paris) 162(Special Issue 2): 4s25-4s28
2006
ISSN/ISBN: 0035-3787 PMID: 17128086 Document Number: 603431
The diagnosis of ALS requires the presence of lower and upper motor neuron degeneration and a progressive spread of symptoms and signs. Due to the lack of any biological diagnostic marker, the World Federation of Neurology established clinical and paraclinical criteria (El Escorial 1991; Airlie House 1998). These criteria allow to establish a diagnosis with various levels of certainty. In practice they have a low sensitivity, especially at the beginning of the disease, and may delay the diagnosis. They exclude also some clinical forms and are not helpful in the differential diagnosis.