[Diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]

Diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral. SCLEROSIS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most frequent motor neuron disorder in adult. In France, every day, 4 new cases are diagnosed. Although, ALS is currently considered easy to identify, in the presence of the combination of diffuse upper and lower motor neuron signs, the delay remains over 12 months for a disease with a median survival of 36 months. This finding strongly explains why clinicians feel uncomfortable for ascertaining the diagnosis especially during the early stages of the disease. Other explanations for such a delay might rely on the phenotypic heterogeneity of ALS and at least the absence of diagnostic marker that hampers the role of clinicians in their clinical practice.