Loading...
This study provides an improved perspective on a controversial clinical concept: the existence of primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) as a clinical entity separate from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other motor neuron diseases. (PLS is characterized primarily by upper motor neuron weakness in arms and legs.) Clinical, neuropsychological, neurophysiologic, and pathologic testing was performed in 20 patients who were classified as having PLS according to Pringle et al.'s criteria (Brain 1992; 115:495) and were seen at one hospital during a 6-year period. As is typically the case in the diagnosis of ALS, many of these examinations identified features of PLS that allowed alternative diagnoses to be excluded.
The main clinical finding in al…