[Muscle spasms in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (clinico-electromyographnic analysis)]

The diagnostic importance and electromyographic characteristics of the muscular spasms were studied in patients with lateral amyotrophic sclerosis at various stages of the disease. It has been shown that the muscular spasms are a typical symptom of this disease, and may be an early manifestation of the latter. The clinical and electromyographic characteristics of the spasms depend on the depth of the pathological process. Of importance in the origin of the muscular spasms in the lateral amyotrophic sclerosis is involvement of many levels of the cortico-muscular path, however, distrubances of the intraspinal mechanisms are, probably, the leading cause.