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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  1. J M S Pearce
  1. 304 Beverley Road, Anlaby, Hull HU10 7BG, UK; jmspearce@freenet.co.uk

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    In America, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the famous baseball player who in 1939 retired because of the disease.1 ALS is also known as Charcot’s disease (vide infra); but many famous neurologists figure in its history.

    GBA Duchenne (1806–1875) described a case of the related progressive muscular atrophy (PMA) in 1849, but delayed publishing until 1861.2 Aran published the case3 and acknowledged:

    “I owe a thousand thanks to my friend Duchenne de Boulogne who freely put at my disposal all his material . . .”

    Luys reported in 1860, the underlying anterior horn cell degeneration; and in the same year Duchenne reported progressive bulbar palsy as “glosso-labial-laryngeal paralysis”.4 Not …

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