Testing in Neuromuscular Disease
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The role of laboratory testing in the diagnosis of neuromuscular disease is described in the first chapter. Tests are ideally used to support a clinically established…
PSYCHIATRY
The Rehabilitation of Neuromuscular Diseases
INTRODUTION Print Section Listen Rehabilitation is the process of assisting a person to maximize function and quality of life. Therefore, rehabilitation matters to people with neuromuscular diseases because it enables…
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen 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…
Disorders of Motor Nerve Hyperactivity
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Complaints referable to muscle such as pain, spasm, stiffness, fatigue and/or abnormal movements within a muscle are commonplace in the practice of medicine. As the cause…
Spinal Muscular Atrophies
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The spinal muscular atrophies (SMAs) have been historically conceptualized as hereditary disorders preferentially affecting anterior horn cells and selected motor cranial nerve nuclei.1 As in all…
Other Motor Neuron Disorders
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The previous three chapters discussed motor neuron diseases (MNDs) that are inherited or degenerative in etiology. This chapter will focus on the less common (of this…
Hereditary Spastic Paraparesis
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The diagnosis of hereditary spastic paraparesis (HSP) is based on the identification of a phenotype characterized as a slowly progressive, symmetric, spastic paraparesis in which the…
Principles of Immunomodulating Treatment
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The ideal of every patient and physician is to identify a diagnosis whose natural history is self-limited, or if not, a diagnosis for which an effective…
Approach to Patients with Neuromuscular Disease
GENERAL PRINCIPLES Print Section Listen The evaluation of patients with suspected neurologic disease remains first and foremost a bedside exercise. Accurate diagnosis requires consideration of individual patient and disease differences….
Refractory Status Epilepticus
Introduction Print Section Listen Traditionally, status epilepticus (SE) was defined as continuous or repetitive seizure activity persisting for at least 30 minutes without recovery of consciousness between attacks. More recently,…
