View clinical trials related to Motor Neuron Disease.
Filter by:ALS is is characterized by a progressive degeneration of motor neurons, leading to progressive weakness of muscles, including respiratory muscles, the diaphragm. Although specific therapy is lacking, correct respiratory therapy improves quality of life and increases survival. Substituting the failing respiratory muscles by non invasive mechanical ventilatory assistance (NIV) is the current standard of care. Intradiaphragmatic phrenic nerve stimulation is a new treatment and has been the object of a preliminary international proof-of-concept multicenter trial. This trial suggests that the intradiaphragmatic phrenic nerve stimulation slows down the rate of decline of the diaphragm. Our new hypothesis is that phrenic stimulation induces diaphragm conditioning and can delay the need for mechanical ventilation in ALS patients. We will study, during 24 months, 2 groups of 37 patients at the beginning of the respiratory dysfunction, using a intradiaphragmatic phrenic nerve stimulation in one group and a sham stimulation in the other group. Although, all the patients will be implanted, thus, at the end of the study, all the patients will receive effective stimulation.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive weakness and muscular atrophy due to the degeneration and loss of motor neurons, the nerve cells that, in the central nervous system (motor cortex, brainstem and spinal chord), control voluntary movement. Riluzole, the only drug approved for ALS treatment, modestly slow disease progression. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive technique of neuromodulation that is currently studied as a possible therapeutic tool for several neurological and psychiatric diseases and has been found safe and well tolerated. Based on experimental evidence in animals and human subjects, tDCS is expected to reduce motor cortex excitability and excitotoxicity, that is neuronal injury induced by excessive glutamatergic stimulation, one of postulated pathophysiological mechanisms in ALS. This study will investigate if transcranial direct current stimulation of motor cortex is useful in delaying disease progression and is well tolerated in ALS patients.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Incobotulinum Toxin A (Xeomin®) injections into the parotid and submandibular glands in patients with Parkinson's Disease/Parkinsonism and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) with troublesome sialorrhea.
Evaluation of the decrease of the secretion of saliva in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by a local ultrasound-guided bilateral injection of botulinum toxin type A in parotids and submandibular glands. The investigators want to demonstrate 1 month after the injection, by a multicenter French randomized double blind study, an improvement of at least 25 % of the functional embarrassment due to saliva, estimated with a visual analogue scale, a decrease of the quantity of saliva and a decrease of the embarrassment for the main caregiver.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that involves not only motor structures, as was previously thought, but also brain areas dealing with cognition as well as parts of the limbic system. Clinical, imaging and pathological evidence suggests that ALS and fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) have several features in common, and that these two diseases could be the two ends of a pathological continuum.
The first questions asked by patients with a new diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) often include: "Does exercise help slow the progression of the disease?", "Is there any harm in exercising?", or "What type of exercise (endurance or resistance) is most appropriate?" At this time, however, there is a lack of answers for people who suffer from an illness that affects their strength above all else. Yet the beneficial effects of exercise in both healthy people as well as people with other diseases have been extensively studied and resulted in recommendations about the types of exercise that are beneficial. In this study the investigators will ask participants with ALS to exercise in one of three ways: weightlifting (resistance exercise), stationary bicycling (endurance exercise), and range of motion exercise (the current "standard of care" for ALS patients). The investigators will use several different types of tests to determine whether one type of exercise is tolerated better and is safer than another. The investigators will also collect information about how the body responds to exercise in ALS. This study will help in the development of a larger national study to understand how exercise can be combined with other treatments to potentially improve strength and alter the course of the disease.
The goal of PRESS-ALS is to study the earliest manifestations of disease in people with early ALS in whom some areas of the body are not yet affected.
Patients with neuropathic diseases are experiencing increasing muscle weakness, loss of muscle strength and functional abilities during their illness. In healthy people, regular exercise is the best way to maintain or improve muscle strength, endurance and general health status and thereby maintain functioning abilities. Previously, patients with neuromuscular diseases were advised to avoid any kind of physical exercise. However, lately a number of studies have evaluated the effect of training in patients with neuromuscular diseases, and positive effects on the functional abilities have been found. Based on these findings we want to investigate the mechanisms leading to development of muscle atrophy and loss of functional abilities, and to explore the opportunities of reducing muscle wasting and thereby improve the course of the disease development through strength training. The main objective is to investigate the effects of strength training on slowing disease progression and reduce the decline in muscle strength and function in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In addition, the aim is to carry out detailed studies of biological processes in muscle tissue in order to unveil mechanisms leading to muscle atrophy, and to examine effects of a strength training program. The goal is to be able to incorporate strength training in the treatment program of these patients in order to maintain muscle strength and function in the individual for as long as possible. Minimum 10 patients with the disease are included in the study. Through a 12 week period the patients will participate in strength training 2-3 times per week. Muscles biopsies will be taken (i) 12 weeks before commencement of strength training program, (ii) at the beginning of training and (iii) after 12 weeks of strength training. Patients will function as their own controls. Blood samples will be collected simultaneously in order to follow the development of the strength training. Furthermore, participants will be assessed through at number of functional tests and questionnaires evaluating their strength, balance and social/ psychological status. Subjects are recruited through their association with Odense University Hospital. In the present study, the participants become part of a social network, while participating in organized training sessions, and thus have a possibility to make contact with other ALS patients in the same situation as themselves.
The purpose of this study is to collect biofluid samples for the banking and usage in ALS research. Through comparison of these samples, the researchers hope to learn more about the underlying cause of ALS, as well as find unique biological markers, which could be used to develop new therapies.
Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) typically endure a progressive paralysis due to the continued loss of motoneurons that leads them to death in less than 5 years. No treatment has changed its natural history. Intrathecal injection of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells can secret trophic factors that keep the motorneurons functional. The investigators have designed a phase I/II clinical trial to check the feasibility of this approach in humans.