Active clinical trials for "Motor Neuron Disease"

The purpose of this study is to test the safety and effectiveness of an autologous bone marrow-derived stem/progenitor cells infusion in the subjects with diagnosed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Herein, the investigators study the safety and efficacy of transplanting purified autologous bone marrow-derived stem cells transplanted via the intrathecal route by interventional radiology and the intravenous route.

The purpose of this study is to determine the muscle strength of a muscle in the thigh after 12 weeks of home exercise.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease affecting motoneurons, with a prevalence around 5/100.000. Respiratory muscle involvement is a major feature in ALS and remains the main prognostic factor. Timing and rate of progression of this respiratory muscle involvement is also highly variable among individuals. Respiratory manifestations justify a careful follow up including clinical evaluation, pulmonary function tests and blood gases. Prognostic value of respiratory muscle assessment has been clearly demonstrated in ALS, although several cut off values have been published. The clinical benefit of non invasive ventilation (NIV) is well established in ALS, but the optimal criteria for its initiation remain debated . The 1999 consensus for NIV selected classical criteria to consider NIV in patients with respiratory symptoms suggesting hypoventilation: daytime hypercapnia (PaCO2 > 45 mmHg), nocturnal SaO2 < 89 % more than 5 consecutive minutes and for progressive neuromuscular disorders (NMD) (mainly ALS), a vital capacity (VC) < 50 % pred or a PImax < 60 cmH2O. Besides daytime clinical and PFT assessment, nocturnal evaluation is essential in ALS. The prevalence of sleep apnea ranges from 16 % to 76 %. Transcutaneous PCO2 (tcPCO2) is an attractive technique to evaluate non invasively nocturnal hypoventilation. The technique is well validated in different settings. Its use in neuromuscular disorders (NMD) is recent. In particular one study has demonstrated a high predictive value of tcPCO2 for the development of daytime hypoventilation within 1 year. To our knowledge, this technique has not been specifically assessed in ALS. There is a potential role for nocturnal PtcCO2 monitoring in the close follow up of ALS patients. Indeed, a close respiratory follow up of ALS patients is essential to determine the optimal timing of NIV, avoiding the occurence of unexpected acute respiratory failure.

This observational study will use new smartwatch technology to continuously and remotely monitor the health of ALS patients and healthy controls over time. This information will be used to develop digital biomarkers for ALS.

The Novus system intended to provide ankle dorsiflexion and knee flexion or extension in individuals with foot drop and thigh muscle weakness, following an upper motor neuron injury or disease. The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the usability of the Novus system among these patients and to gain subjects' feedback regarding the device when used on a daily basis.The secondary objective is to obtain information about the performance of the system as a gait assistive device and to evaluate the subject's Quality of Life while using the system.

This is a pilot study to evaluate a potential imaging biomarker for aiding diagnosis and monitoring progression of ALS, based on a well established basic science pathway, published human autopsy data, preliminary data in ALS mutant mice, and our recently published data using brain PET scans to image the metabotropic glutamate receptor type 5 (mGluR5) in healthy human volunteers.

The purpose of this study is to find out if supervised exercise training using a treadmill with partial weight support is safe and has an impact on gait and function of persons with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

To combine several brain imaging techniques to develop a new diagnostic test to help with earlier diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) typically endure a progressive paralysis due to the continued loss of motoneurons that leads them to death in less than 5 years. No treatment has changed its natural history. Intrathecal injection of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells can secret trophic factors that keep the motorneurons functional. The investigators have designed a phase I/II clinical trial to check the feasibility of this approach in humans.