Survival and clinical features in Hispanic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients

Abstract

The demography, survival, and motor phenotypes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients have been rarely described in Hispanic countries. The clinical characteristics and survival of a series of Mexican ALS patients are described. Mexican patients with definite ALS were included in a five-year retrospective longitudinal study. Their demographic and clinical features, cumulative survival rates, and independent predictive factors for survival were analysed. Sixty-one definite ALS patients were included. The median follow-up period was 35 months (range 12-108 months). Males were predominant (1.8: 1), the mean age at onset was 47.5 ± 10.5 years, and the median interval from onset to diagnosis was 12 months. Spinal onset occurred in 66% of patients. Upper motor neuron phenotype was predominant in 53% of patients. The overall mean survival from onset was 68.6 months, and from diagnosis was 57.8 months. Longer survival was determined in patients aged ≤ 40 years (54.7 months) compared with other age groups (p = 0.006). In conclusion, the clinical heterogeneity, male predominance, and survival rates in our sample are consistent with those of other studies. Patients in this series had a younger age at onset and a clear trend toward longer survival compared with those of other population studies.

Increase of Pyramidal Tract Fractional Anisotropy on MRI after Stem Cell Transplantation in ALS Patients

“…Different local routes for stem cell transplantation have been reported in these patients, including intraspinal [41,46], intrathecal [45], and directly into the frontal motor cortex [8,43,44]. Previous studies using a systemic approach [39,40] in ALS patients were based on the impairment of the blood-brain barrier observed in animal models of ALS [58], but this topic remains controversial [59].…”

“…Life expectancies range from 15 to 47 months after presentation [8,6] even after Riluzole treatment. Stem cell transplantation is a potential therapeutic strategy for ALS patients, as well as for other neurodegenerative disorders [41,43,44,45,[34][35][36][37][38]22] that CD133+ stem cells isolated from the peripheral blood can differentiate into neurons [27,28,31].…”

“…Clinical evidence of both UMN and LMN damage and its progressive spread are required for the diagnosis of ALS [4,6,7]. The mean survival of ALS patients from diagnosis ranges from 15.7 months to 47 months, according to different series [6,8].…”

Esclerosis lateral amiotrófica: actualización

“…No se encontraron publicaciones en México, Cuba y Colombia sobre ninguno de los dos datos mencionados (35)(36)(37).…”

Intrathecal delivery of bone marrow stem cells in ALS: A preliminary report

“…Motor phenotypes are highly heterogeneous and are defined by: 1) the body region of onset; 2) the relative mix of UMN and LMN involvement; and 3) the rate of progression [4]. According to different series, mean survival of ALS patients ranges from 15.7 months to 47 months after presentation [5,6].…”