what we do
The goal of our center is to have a place where philanthropist, advocates, organizations and family and friends of patients with a Neurological illness could donate monetary funds which can support Investigator initiated clinical trials. By having funds, we could optimize proper treatments in order to improve outcomes for patients with neurological diseases.
Penn State Screen of Frontal and Temporal Dysfunction (PSSFTS) in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
The incidence of cognitive change in association with ALS has been estimated to range from 30 –50%. Such cognitive changes can most often be classified as a type of frontal dysfunction (FD), which includes deficiencies in higher-level language processing, abstract reasoning, and insight.
The implications of FD in ALS affect both the patient, who is twice as likely to be non-compliant with medical recommendations, and the caregiver, whose degree of psychological distress has been shown to be directly related to the patient’s cognitive and behavior changes associated with FD.
Currently, there is no one accepted instrument for identifying FD among individuals with ALS. The development and validation of such a tool is vital for the identification of FD among this population so that further emphasis can be placed on clinical management of FD.
Recently published research has demonstrated that Penn State’s center’s 20-minute screening evaluation, the Penn State ALS Cognitive Screen, is sufficiently sensitive to detect FD in patients with ALS to a degree which is similar to those obtained with more comprehensive test batteries. It has been hypothesized that this instrument will demonstrate a similar degree of sensitivity in identifying frontal dysfunction in a larger cohort of 305 ALS patients from multi-disciplinary ALS clinics across the United States, PNA being one of them.
To find out more about this study, please contact:
call (602) 258-3354 ext 137
or email Amna.Mohammad@bannerhealth.com