Gold coast criteria but not neurofilaments improve diagnostic sensitivity in a specialized ALS university center

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease marked by upper and lower motor neuron loss. Diagnosing ALS may still be challenging due to the absence of specific biomarkers and requires thorough clinical evaluation, comprehensive electromyography (EMG), and exclusion of differential diagnoses by laboratory analyses and imaging. The Gold Coast criteria (GCC) replaced the revised El Escorial (rEEC) and Awaji criteria (AC), simplifying ALS diagnosis and standardizing communication with patients.

This retrospective study compared the sensitivity of the GCC with the rEEC and AC in a specialized neuromuscular center.

431 patients with suspected ALS were included, and 426 patients ultimately received an ALS diagnosis. The GCC showed higher sensitivity than both the rEEC and AC. The explorative inclusion of neurofilament levels into an extended diagnostic framework did not increase the sensitivity of rEEC and AC.

Continued clinical use of the GCC should be considered the standard for ALS diagnosis. Careful clinical and electrophysiological examination is particularly essential in this context, supplemented by biomarkers such as neurofilaments.

This retrospective real-world study demonstrates a high sensitivity of the GCC in a specialized neuromuscular clinic.