Pain at the onset of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: a cross-sectional study.

Clin Neurol Neurosurg

Dipartimento di Emergenza-Urgenza, ed Area Medica Generale e Specialistica, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Parma, Via Gramsci 14, 43126, Parma, Italy.

Published: November 2019

AI Article Synopsis

  • The study examined ALS patients who reported pain at the onset of their disease to see if it indicated a specific ALS phenotype.
  • Out of 108 patients, only 5 had generalized pain and 16 had localized pain, revealing patterns such as all generalized pain cases being female and occurring at an earlier age.
  • The presence of pain was associated with more limb involvement and specific motor neuron symptoms, suggesting a link between pain and the neurodegenerative processes in ALS.

Article Abstract

Objective: We evaluated ALS patients reporting pain, either generalized or localized, at disease onset and determined whether this feature defined a specific ALS phenotype.

Patients And Methods: We considered all consecutive ALS patients referred to our Motor Neuron Diseases Center between 2006 and 2016 and included only patients who fulfilled the El Escorial revised criteria for probable and definite ALS diagnosis. We then identified those cases who reported pain at disease onset and compared them to all remaining cases. Secondary causes of pain have been excluded.

Results: Our initial sample consisted of 108 patients (55 men and 53 women). We identified 5 cases with generalized pain and 16 cases with localized pain at disease onset, corresponding to 4.6% and 14.8% of the initial sample, respectively. Cases with generalized pain were all female and had an earlier disease onset (49.6 ± 1.5 vs 66.6 ± 10.2 yrs, p = 0.002). Cases with localized pain showed a preponderance of upper motor neuron symptoms/signs at disease onset. Patients with pain, either localized or generalized, had a significantly higher involvement of the limbs (82.6% vs 100%, p = 0.022), while the bulbar district was spared at disease onset (17.4% vs 0%, p = 0.008). More specifically, the proximal upper and distal lower limbs were more frequently affected by ALS in patients with pain at disease onset. In two cases, the clinical presentation was notable for the resemblance with complex regional pain syndrome.

Conclusion: The presence of pain at disease onset seems to relate to peculiar clinical features of ALS and may be pathophysiologically associated with neurodegeneration.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clineuro.2019.105540DOI Listing

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