Survey on the Diagnostic Process of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

OBJECTIVE: To emphasize the need for precise diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive and degenerative disease of upper and lower motor neurons that often present initially with weakness at the upper or lower extremities, and frequently misdiagnosed as myelopathy, radiculopathy, peripheral neuropathy or arthropathy that may ultimately lead to unnecessary treatments including surgical procedures. METHOD: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 331 ALS patients who visited our hospital between 1998 and 2008. Symptoms at onset, progression of disease, radiologic findings, surgeries prior to diagnosis of ALS, outcome after surgery or conservative treatments, and electrodiagnostic study results were reviewed. RESULTS: Among the 331 patients with ALS, 34 (10.3%) had a history of surgical procedure and 37 (11.1%) underwent conservative treatment prior to diagnosis of ALS. 34 patients with a mean disease duration at diagnosis of 20.0+/-14.9 months, had surgery for symptoms that were later attributable to ALS. In 30 of the 34 patients, symptoms did not resolve after the intervention. 37 patients with a mean disease duration at diagnosis of 16.6+/-14.3 months, underwent conservative treatments such as physical therapy prior to diagnosis of ALS. Only in one patient (2.7%), symptoms improved after conservative treatment. CONCLUSION: In the absence of a single confirmatory study for the diagnosis of ALS, clinical findings may be misinterpreted, leading to an erroneous diagnosis. Therefore, closer and more careful follow-up is necessary for patients with limb weakness in the absence of sensory symptoms, or bulbar abnormalities such as dysarthria and dysphagia.

Voiding Dysfunction after Stroke and Traumatic Brain Injury: Multi-center Study

OBJECTIVE: Voiding dysfunction after stroke and traumatic brain injury has been known to be a predictive factor of death or severe disability, and an important factor on hospital discharge. Thus we aim to investigate its prevalence, related factors and natural course of brain injury related voiding dysfunction for proper rehabilitation after brain injury. METHOD: Two hundred ten brain injury patients (male 130, female 80) admitted in 5 university hospitals were included. The cognitive function was assessed using the Korean version-Mini mental state examination (K-MMSE), and bladder function was evaluated with the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and voiding diary. We excluded the patients that had previous urologic and gynecologic problem. RESULTS: Overall, 43.7% of total patients had voiding difficulty and the most common symptom was nocturia (80.6%), which was followed by frequency (72.6%) and urgency (40.3%). Patients with incontinence had lower K-MMSE scores than continent patients. There was no significant difference of rate of incontinence in relation with sex, cause of brain injury, and lesion site. Prevalence of urinary symptoms decreased as the duration after brain injury was longer. The quality of life score showed a high correlation with the total IPSS score (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The overall results demonstrate that voiding dysfunction after brain injury is influenced by onset time and cognitive function after brain injury.