Ann Clin Neurophysiol.  2017 Jan;19(1):68-70. 10.14253/acn.2017.19.1.68.

Flail arm syndrome with several issues related to the diagnostic process

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Neurology, Konyang University of College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea. nukedoc@hanmail.net

Abstract

Flail arm syndrome (FAS), known as one of the atypical amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) variants, has a similar clinical course and pathologic findings as ALS. Therefore it is difficult to differentiate between ALS and FAS at a glance. There are few reports involving individual analysis of FAS patients to date. The findings of polysomnography (PSG) in patient with FAS are not well known. We report a male FAS patient with review of literatures and several issues related to the diagnostic process.

Keyword

Flail arm syndrome; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Upper motor neuron sign

MeSH Terms

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Arm*
Humans
Male
Polysomnography

Reference

1.Wijesekera LC., Mathers S., Talman P., Galtrey C., Parkinson MH., Ga-nesalingam J, et al. Natural history and clinical features of the flail arm and flail leg ALS variants. Neurology. 2009. 72:1087–1094.
Article
2.Hino S., Sasaki S. Flail arm syndrome with cytoplasmic vacuoles in remaining anterior horn motor neurons: a peculiar variant of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Neuropathology. 2015. 35:582–586.
Article
3.Hübers A., Hildebrandt V., Petri S., Kollewe K., Hermann A., Storch A, et al. Clinical features and differential diagnosis of flail arm syndrome. J Neurol. 2016. 263:390–395.
Article
4.Yoon BN., Choi SH., Rha JH., Kang SY., Lee KW., Sung JJ. Comparison between flail arm syndrome and upper limb onset amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: clinical features and electromyographic findings. Exp Neurobiol. 2014. 23:253–257.
Article
5.Avidan AY., Malhotra R. Sleep in Other neurologic disorders. Kryger MH, Avidan AY, Berry RB, editors. Atlas of Clinical sleep medi-cine. 2nd ed.Philadelphia: Elsevier Saunders;2014. 230.
6.Hutchinson D., Whyte K. Neuromuscular disease and respiratory failure. Pract Neurol. 2008. 8:229–237.
Article
7.Quaranta VN., Carratù P., Damiani MF., Dragonieri S., Capozzolo A., Cassano A, et al. The prognostic role of obstructive sleep apnea at the onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Neurodegener Dis. 2017. 17:14–21.
Article
8.Peppard PE., Young T., Barnet JH., Palta M., Hagen EW., Hla KM. In-creased prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in adults. Am J Epidemiol. 2013. 177:1006–1014.
Article
9.Tandan R. Disorders of the Upper and Lower Motor Neurons. Bradley WG, Daroff RB, Fenichel GM, Marsden CD, editors. Neurology in Clinical Practice: Principles of Diagnosis and Management. 2nd ed.2. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann;1996. p. 1844.
10.Kumar S., Mehta VK., Shukla R. Owl's eye sign: A rare neuroimaging finding in flail arm syndrome. Neurology. 2015. 84:1500.
Article
11.Kollewe K., Wurster U., Sinzenich T., Körner S., Dengler R., Moham-madi B, et al. Anti-ganglioside antibodies in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis revisited. PLoS One. 2015. 10:e0125339.
Article
Full Text Links
  • ACN
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr