Table 1.
General overview of neuromuscular diseases and ALS-mimic pathologies.
| MOTOR NEURON DISEASES (MND) | ||
| Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) | ||
| Primary Lateral Scerosis (PLS) | ||
| Progressive Muscular Atrophy (PMA) | ||
| Progressive Bulbar Palsy (PBP) | ||
| OTHER NEUROLOGICAL CONDITIONS THAT CAN MIMIC ALS | ||
| Mithochondrial Disorder (MID) | ||
| Psedobulbar Palsy | ||
| Spinal Muscular atrophy (SMA) | ||
| Primary lateral sclerosis (some subtupes not related to ALS) | ||
| Progressive spinal muscular atrophy (some subtype not related to ALS) | ||
| Spinobulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA or Kennedy's disease) | ||
| Autoimmune Syndromes Monoclonal | ||
| Myopathies | ||
| Cachectic myopathy | ||
| Polymyositis Sarcoid myositis | ||
| Carcinoid myopathy | ||
| Nemaline myopathy | ||
| Inflammatory myopathies | Polymyositis (PM) | |
| Dermatomyositis | ||
| Inclusion-body myositis (IBM) | ||
Neuromuscular Disorders (NMD) implicate deficits and degeneration of nerves (motor and sensory neurons) and muscles (skeletal muscles) of the central and peripheral nervous system, leading to muscles weaken and waste away (atrophy). NMDs are classified in 4 categories, with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis representing the main one. ALS-mimic pathologies is a vast group of diseases characterized by weakness and wasting away of muscle tissue, with or without the breakdown of nerve tissue, thus mimicking ALS symptoms. Currently, no cure exists for NMDs and the treatments aim to relieve the symptoms and delay disease progression.