2. -trophic
● Means “pertaining to development”
● Examples are:
○ atrophic or atrophy
○ amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
○ muscular dystrophy
3. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
● Also called “Lou Gehrig’s disease” after
famous baseball player Lou Gehrig who died
of the disease
● Rapidly progressing degeneration of the
upper and lower motor neurons
● Causes a general loss of voluntary
movement
● Death usually occurs within 3-5 years
4. Signs and Symptoms of ALS
● Initial symptoms either begin in the limbs, in 75% of
cases, or the bulbar muscles, 23%. A small amount
of cases start with the respiratory muscles
● With limb onset, patients have twitching, cramping,
muscle weakness, a “dropped foot”, and problems
with fine dexterity skills
● With bulbar onset, patients have difficulty with
speaking and swallowing
● Respiratory onset is rare. The ability to breathe will
be decreased in these patients
5. Signs and Symptoms of ALS
● The disease will progress to where the patient will not
be able to walk and use their hands, they will be bed
bound, they will not be able to speak or swallow, and
most will need a ventilator to breathe
● Progression is slower in patients whose onset is before
40, have the disease primarily in one limb, and those
with only upper motor neuron symptoms
● Progression of the disease is quicker with patients who
have bulbar or respiratory onset
8. Aphasia
● Aphasia is usually caused by stroke or brain
injury
● There are many different types
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○
○
○
Expressive aphasia
Receptive aphasia
Anomic aphasia
Global aphasia
9. Expressive Aphasia
● A person understands what is being
communicated to them
● They know what they want to say but are
unable to communicate with others by
either speaking or writing
● Indicates damage to Broca’s area, the area
responsible for speech production
10. Receptive Aphasia
● Patients are unable to understand spoken or
written forms of communication
● They may be able to speak with normal
grammar and rate but it is usually
meaningless
● Indicates damage to Wernicke’s area, the
area for speech comprehension
11. Anomic Aphasia
● Patients understand written and spoken
communications
● They can write and speak but persistently
forget specific words they wish to talk
about, usually nouns and verbs
12. Global Aphasia
● This is the most severe type of aphasia
● Patients are unable to speak or write and
cannot read or understand spoken language
13. Works Cited
● "Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Fact Sheet." :
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
(NINDS). N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
● "Aphasia: Types, Causes, Symptoms, Treatments."
WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013
