This is a Power Point Presentation of my Podcast on ALS. #edgemedwriting

1. The Medical Report Podcast
Lou Gehrig’s Disease
Christopher M. Matsko, MD.

2. Welcome to The Medical Report Podcast
• Welcome to The Medical Report Podcast – a weekly podcast broadcasted
on Spotify by Dr. Christopher Matsko.
• I am a published physician in the medical sciences in both academic
publications and publications for the general audience
• I graduated Cornell University with Honors, and I have an MD from the
Temple University School of Medicine
• I write grants, manuscripts, journal articles, abstracts, slide decks, and
meeting reports in Medical Communications.
• This Podcast is not intended to replace seeing your doctor, but it is to
educate you on current topics in medicine.
• So, what is Lou Gehrig’s Disease?

3. The History of Lou Gehrig’s Disease
• The real name for Lou Gehrig’s disease is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,
which means “No Muscle Nourishment.”
• The disease was identified in 1869 by a French Neurologist but did not
become widely known until 1941 when Lou Gehrig was diagnosed.
• Lou Gehrig was a baseball player for the New York Yankees in the 1920’s,
30’s, and early 40’s.
• Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with the disease at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in
1936.
• Since this time most people refer to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis as Lou
Gehrig’s Disease.
• Recently, the MLB has started to honor Lou Gehrig on his birthday with Lou
Gehrig’s Day in Baseball as seen on the MLB Network.

4. Symptoms of Lou Gehrig’s Disease
• ALS usually starts as muscle weakness that spreads and progressively
worsens over time.
• Symptoms of ALS include the following: trouble with your activities of
daily living, tripping or falling, muscle weakness and fatigue, muscle
cramps or twitching, slurred speech or trouble swallowing, and
behavior changes.
• ALS starts in the legs and arms first and then spreads
• There is generally no pain associated with ALS
• Furthermore, it does not affect urination or the senses

5. Causes of Lou Gehrig’s Disease
• The cause of ALS is an attack on the nerve cell, the anterior horn cell.
• This causes problems with motor weakness and fatigue due to a degradation of
motor neurons.
• When the motor neuron gets attacked, they harden up and cannot relay
messages to the muscles, which cause problems with muscle function.
• The risk factors for ALS include genetic, age, and sex.
• Genetic Risk Factors is passed from Mother or Father to their offspring.
• Age is also a Risk Factor: People between the ages of 60 – 80 are most at risk.
• Sex as a risk factor for ALS: before 65/70 more men are affected – after 70 this
risk factor disappears.
• Finally other risk factor include smoking, military service, and environmental
toxin exposure.

6. Diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s Disease
• EMG: to determine muscle strength and activity.
• Nerve Conduction Studies: to determine the ability of the nerve to
send electrical impulses.
• MRI: to determine the anatomical changes in the brain and spinal
cord.
• Blood & Urine Tests: to determine variations in blood and urine
samples.
• Spinal Tap: to analyze the spinal fluid.
• Muscle Biopsy: to analyze the muscle tissue under a microscope.
• Nerve Biopsy: to analyze the nerve under a microscope.

7. Treatment of Lou Gehrig’s Disease
• ALS has no cure. There are few treatments.
• There are medications available to help relieve symptoms such as muscle cramps and fatigue.
• However, most of these medications are used off label.
• There are several prescription medications that treat ALS including the following: Riluzole,
Radicava, Relyvrio.
• Riluzole found in the 90’s is a sodium channel protein inhibitor
• Radicava founded recently is an anti-oxidant that relieves the oxidative stress of ALS.
• Relyvrio is the first drug to show slowing in disease progression and morbidity and mortality.
• Physical Therapy and Respiratory Therapy can also help-out a lot with managing your activities of
daily living and breathing.
• Recent studies suggest that the use of immunotherapy with T cells might hold promise in the
treatment.

8. Complications of Lou Gehrig’s Disease
• The major and most dangerous complication is the effect on
breathing. When one acquires ALS the muscles of breathing are
affect which can lead to disability and death.
• Problems with eating and speaking is also a problem because the
muscles of mastication and speech are affected.
• Dementia is also a possible problem, which can lead to
frontotemporal dementia.
• Complications of ALS can be avoided by physical activity, physical
therapy, and education of the disease progression.

9. Prognosis of Lou Gehrig’s Disease
• There is no cure
• The disease progresses over months to years.
• End stages of the disease requires help with breathing and eating.
• There maybe a need for a breathing tube or a feeding tube to sustain
life.
• The last stage of the disease is death.
• There is significant research in this area of medicine helping us
understand and treat the underlying causes of the disease.