On 07-16-94, Donald Wigston discussed "Re: als:"
DW --The first thing you might take note of is that the disease is
DW --"Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis", not Atrphied. It is called that
DW --because a side effect of the disease, which causes the death of
DW --some of the motor neurons in the spinal cord, is that muscles
DW --tend to "waste away" that is become atrophic.
Actually, you are half right. "Amyotrophic"refers to the fact that
there are *no* pathophysiological changes in the muscle tissue itself:
-a "without"
-myo- "muscle"
-trophic "changes"
This is a consequence of the fact that the disease is one of the motor
neurons in the spinal cord as you suggest. Identifying the disease
process requires ruling out that the muscle wasting is due to a muscle
tissue process.
_______________________
...eliot eliot.gelwan at channel1.com
82 Perry St, Brookline MA 02146-6907
or: Dept of Psychiatry, UMass Med Ctr,
Worcester MA 01605-2397
(Brookline MA, 10:19 on 07/16/94)
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þ CMPQwk 1.4 #1082 þ I.M.R.U.?
