scholarly journals Relationship between oral transit time and functional performance in motor neuron disease

2019 ◽  
Vol 77 (8) ◽  
pp. 542-549
Author(s):  
Bárbara Carolina Brandão ◽  
Magali Aparecida Orate Menezes da Silva ◽  
Paula Cristina Cola ◽  
Roberta Gonçalves da Silva

ABSTRACT Oral phase swallowing impairment in motor neuron disease (MND) is caused by tongue weakness, fasciculation and atrophy, which may compromise oral transit time and total feeding time. Objective: To describe and correlate total oral transit time (TOTT) with functional performance in MND using different food consistencies. Methods: The study was conducted on 20 patients with MND, regardless of type or duration of the disease, of whom nine were excluded due to issues on the videofluoroscopic swallowing images. The remaining 11 patients (nine men and two women) ranged from 31 to 87 years of age (mean: 57 years) with scores on the Penetration Aspiration Scale ranging from ≤ 2 to ≤ 4. The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale - revised questionnaire was applied to classify individuals according to global, bulbar and bulbar/respiratory parameters. Videofluoroscopy of swallowing using 5ml of different consistencies was performed and a quantitative temporal analysis of the TOTT was carried out with the aid of specific software. Results: There was a wide variation in the TOTT within the same food consistency among MND patients. There was a correlation between the TOTT and overall functional performance for the thickened liquid consistency (r = −0.691) and between the TOTT and bulbar performance for the pureed consistency (r = −0.859). Conclusion: Total oral transit time in MND varies within the same food consistency and the longer the TOTT, regardless of food consistency, the lower the functional performance in MND.

Author(s):  
Amutha Bharathi Mohan ◽  
Subathra Adithan ◽  
Sunil Narayan ◽  
Nagarajan Krishnan ◽  
Donna Mathews

Abstract Background Motor neuron diseases cause progressive degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons. No Indian studies are available on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) findings in these patients. Aims This study was done to identify white matter tracts that have reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) in motor neuron disease (MND) patients using tract-based spatial statistics and to correlate FA values with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R) score. Settings and Design A case–control study in a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods We did DTI sequence (20 gradient directions, b-value 1,000) in 15 MND patients (10 men and 5 women; mean age: 46.5 ± 16.5 years; 11 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [ALS], 2 monomelic amyotrophy, 1 progressive muscular atrophy, and 1 bulbar ALS) and 15 age- and sex-matched controls. The data set from each subject was postprocessed using FSL downloaded from the FMRIB Software Library, Oxford, United Kingdom (http://www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl). Statistical Analysis The statistical permutation tool “randomize” with 5,000 permutations was used to identify voxels that were different between the patient data set and the control data set. Mean FA values of these voxels were obtained separately for each tract as per “JHU white-matter tractography atlas.” SPSS was used to look to correlate tract-wise mean FA value with ALSFRS-R score. Results We found clusters of reduced FA values in multiple tracts in the brain of patients with MND. Receiver operating characteristic curves plotted for individual tracts, showed that bilateral corticospinal tract, bilateral anterior thalamic radiation, bilateral uncinate fasciculus, and right superior longitudinal fasciculus were the best discriminators (area under the curve > 0.8, p < 0.01). FA values did not correlate with ALFRS-R severity score. Conclusion In MND patients, not only the motor tracts, but several nonmotor association tracts are additionally affected, reflecting nonmotor pathological processes in ALS.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Young Gi Min ◽  
Seok-Jin Choi ◽  
Yoon-Ho Hong ◽  
Sung-Min Kim ◽  
Je-Young Shin ◽  
...  

Abstract Disproportionate muscle atrophy is a distinct phenomenon in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); however, preferentially affected leg muscles remain unknown. We aimed to identify this split-leg phenomenon in ALS and determine its pathophysiology. Patients with ALS (n = 143), progressive muscular atrophy (PMA, n = 36), and age-matched healthy controls (HC, n = 53) were retrospectively identified from our motor neuron disease registry. We analyzed their disease duration, onset region, ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised Scores, and results of neurological examination. Compound muscle action potential (CMAP) of the extensor digitorum brevis (EDB), abductor hallucis (AH), and tibialis anterior (TA) were reviewed. Defined by CMAPEDB/CMAPAH (SIEDB) and CMAPTA/CMAPAH (SITA), respectively, the values of split-leg indices (SI) were compared between these groups. SIEDB was significantly reduced in ALS (p < 0.0001) and PMA (p < 0.0001) compared to the healthy controls (HCs). SITA reduction was more prominent in PMA (p < 0.05 vs. ALS, p < 0.01 vs. HC), but was not significant in ALS compared to the HCs. SI was found to be significantly decreased with clinical lower motor neuron signs (SIEDB), while was rather increased with clinical upper motor neuron signs (SITA). Compared to the AH, TA and EDB are more severely affected in ALS and PMA patients. Our findings help to elucidate the pathophysiology of split-leg phenomenon.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1623
Author(s):  
Maria Viktoria Requardt ◽  
Dennis Görlich ◽  
Torsten Grehl ◽  
Matthias Boentert

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that is ultimately fatal but characterized by substantial phenotypic heterogeneity, which is known to impact long-term course and survival. This study investigated clinical determinants of disease progression and outcome in a large cohort of patients with ALS. Methods: Retrospective analysis included comprehensive data from 625 patients who attended a tertiary ALS centre at least twice. Patients were stratified according to five distinct clinical phenotypes: classical ALS; bulbar ALS; ALS with frontotemporal dementia (ALS-FTD); upper motor neuron predominant (UMNP); and lower motor neuron predominant (LMNP). Results: This study confirmed higher age at symptom onset, shorter latency to diagnosis and more rapid decline in the revised ALS Functional Rating Scale sum score as predictors of poor prognosis. Hazard ratios for shorter survival were higher in patients with ALS-FTD versus classical ALS, and in patients with versus without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Mean survival was longest in the UMNP phenotype group. Conclusions: This study confirmed established predictors of shorter survival in ALS and showed that concomitant COPD in particular relates to poor outcome.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Statland ◽  
Richard J. Barohn ◽  
April L. McVey ◽  
Jonathan S. Katz ◽  
Mazen M. Dimachkie

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sivakumar Sathasivam ◽  
Robert Addison-Jones ◽  
Robert G Miller ◽  
Dan H Moore ◽  
Carolyn A Young

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aline Furtado Bastos ◽  
Marco Orsini ◽  
Dionis Machado ◽  
Mariana Pimentel Mello ◽  
Sergio Nader ◽  
...  

The Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common form of motor neuron disease in the adulthood, and it is characterized by rapid and progressive compromise of the upper and lower motor neurons. The majority of the cases of ALS are classified as sporadic and, until now, a specific cause for these cases still is unknown. To present the different hypotheses on the etiology of ALS. It was carried out a search in the databases: Bireme, Scielo and Pubmed, in the period of 1987 to 2011, using the following keywords: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, motor neuron disease, etiology, causes and epidemiology and its similar in Portuguese and Spanish. It did not have consensus as regards the etiology of ALS. Researches demonstrates evidences as regards intoxication by heavy metals, environmental and occupational causes, genetic mutations (superoxide dismutase 1), certain viral infections and the accomplishment of vigorous physical activity for the development of the disease. There is still no consensus regarding the involved factors in the etiology of ALS. In this way, new research about these etiologies are necessary, for a better approach of the patients, promoting preventive programs for the disease and improving the quality of life of the patients.


2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (10) ◽  
pp. 849-854
Author(s):  
Paulo Victor Sgobbi de Souza ◽  
Wladimir Bocca Vieira de Rezende Pinto ◽  
Flávio Moura Rezende Filho ◽  
Acary Souza Bulle Oliveira

ABSTRACT Motor neuron disease is one of the major groups of neurodegenerative diseases, mainly represented by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Despite wide genetic and biochemical data regarding its pathophysiological mechanisms, motor neuron disease develops under a complex network of mechanisms not restricted to the unique functions of the alpha motor neurons but which actually involve diverse functions of glial cell interaction. This review aims to expose some of the leading roles of glial cells in the physiological mechanisms of neuron-glial cell interactions and the mechanisms related to motor neuron survival linked to glial cell functions.


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