[Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis].

The literature on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis from the years 1995/96 is reviewed including the topics of the World Congress of Neurology in Buenos Aires in September 1997. The problems of a) changed criteria of diagnosis and course of SLA after the time of the first definitions by classical neurological authors, b) the concepts concerning the aetiology and mechanisms of the disease, c) the present studies on drugs and their tentative clinical applications are discussed.