Comprehensive Approach to Diagnose and Manage ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease
Loyola Medicine offers a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
ALS affects about five out of every 100,000 people worldwide. With ALS, nerve cells die off and can no longer send messages to voluntary muscles like your legs and arms. Over time, this progressive condition results in muscle twitching, weakness and loss of movement in the arms, legs and body. About one in every 10 cases of ALS are due to a gene mutation. Symptoms usually don’t appear until after age 50, but can occur in younger people.
If you or a loved is experiencing symptoms that may be due to ALS, you want an accurate diagnosis as soon as possible. Our dedicated team will determine what is causing your symptoms and deliver the highest quality of care. Loyola’s compassionate team will guide you through diagnosis, management of ALS and beyond.
While there currently is no cure for ALS, Loyola Medicine can help you manage symptoms and minimize the impact to your daily life as much as possible. We continue to participate in research and clinical trials to understand the disease and, one day, identify a cure.
Why Choose Loyola for ALS Care?
Loyola’s compassionate team understands that ALS can be life-changing not only for the patient, but also for family members. Loyola takes a multidisciplinary approach to patient care and provides support services for patients and families.
The multidisciplinary team provides comprehensive care and education from diagnosis through disease progression. The goal is to improve patients' quality of life using multiple specialists, mental health support, respiratory support, exercise and nutrition counseling.
Working together, neurologists and pulmonologists, respiratory therapists, physical and occupational therapists, psychologists as well as speech and swallowing specialists create an individual plan of care and provide support for patients and caregivers. We help patients manage their symptoms and improve quality of life.
As an academic medical center, Loyola provides compassionate, exceptional care to patients and trains future leaders in medicine.
