When this neurodegenerative pathology occurs, patients most often only have two to five years to live. If the origin of the evil remains poorly understood, many treatments are being tested.
It is often confused with multiple sclerosis, even though these two diseases have nothing in common. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – also called Charcot’s disease – is, of all neurodegenerative diseases, one of the most destructive and devastating. British physicist Stephen Hawking, who died in 2018, made him sadly famous. This disease is manifested by progressive muscle paralysis due to degeneration of motor neurons, the cells that control muscle contraction. Gradually, this paralysis leads to respiratory failure which, in the absence of respiratory assistance, usually leads to death within two to five years. Implacable.
This disease, the symptoms of which generally become visible around the age of 50 to 60, remains silent before that for many years. What is it due to? What are the treatment prospects?
To each patient his ALS
«It should be understood that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis…
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