About

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's Disease is a progressive, paralyzing, fatal disease. The MDA-ALS Center and multidisciplinary clinic is the clinical arm of the Live Like Lou Center for ALS Research in the Brain Institute at the University of Pittsburgh.  Our patients are treated by ALS experts  in a multidisciplinary setting and are eligible to participate in research. We work in collaboration with other physicians, scientists, and health care workers to TREAT and SUPPORT PATIENTS WITH ALS and to IMPROVE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT LEADING TO A CURE. 

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative disease of the nervous system that affects motor nerve cells (neurons) and results in relentlessly progressive muscle weakness. ALS is inherited (familial) in 10-15% of patients, and the majority have non-inherited (sporadic) ALS.

Although the cause of sporadic ALS is unknown and there is no cure yet, research on the disease is advancing at a rapid pace. There is one drug that does slow the disease course somewhat and another extends life.  Other drugs are undergoing clinical trials, and symptomatic treatments are available.

We are a designated MDA-ALS Center at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh because we offer multidisciplinary care and clinical research in ALS.  A multidisciplinary clinic, supported by MDA, allows patients to see multiple practitioners in one convenient setting and allows access to all available treatment, equipment, and counseling.  Patients are also encouraged to participate in clinical research.  This involvement may simply include enrolling in a database for epidemiology studies.  Others provide blood for DNA or biomarkers, spinal fluid for biomarkers, and skin for stem cells.  Patients may participate in clinical drug trials when they are available.  We all need to work together to find effective treatments for ALS and to improve quality of life.

We collaborate with researchers from the Live Like Lou Center for ALS Research in the Brain Institute and other investigators with common interests at the University of Pittsburgh.  Some of our patients also generously donate to our ALS Tissue Donation Program—a resource that collects and stores human brain and spinal cord tissue samples from ALS and control subjects for use in research activities within the University of Pittsburgh and throughout the country.