ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE MYOGRAPHY IN ALS

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中的一个 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目和 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为 研究中心，而研究中心不一定是研究者所在的机构。 评估用于停止或减缓肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）进展的新疗法的试验关键取决于使用结局指标来评估潜在治疗是否有效。结果指标越有效，需要招募的患者越少，试验时间越短。多年来，人们使用了许多结果测量方法，包括力量评估、呼吸测试、功能状态调查和神经测试，但所有这些都远非理想。一种名为电阻抗肌电图（EIM）的新方法似乎特别有前途，因为它从一个测试会话到下一个测试会话提供非常一致的数据，对ALS中发生的肌肉退化敏感，并且完全无痛和非侵入性。在这项研究中，来自多个机构的研究人员计划在大约120名ALS患者中比较几种不同的结局指标，包括EIM，每名患者随访一年。所有这些措施将相互比较，并评估其检测疾病进展的能力。我们的目标将是确定EIM是否可以作为一个有价值的新的结果指标，最终导致更快，更有效的ALS试验需要更少的患者。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Trials evaluating new therapies for stopping or slowing the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) depend critically upon the use of outcome measures to assess whether a potential treatment is effective. The more effective an outcome measure, the fewer patients need to be enrolled and the shorter the trial. Many outcome measures have been used over the years, including strength assessments, breathing tests, functional status surveys, and nerve testing, but all are far from ideal. A new method, called electrical impedance myography (EIM) appears to be especially promising in that it provides very consistent data from one testing session to the next, is sensitive to the muscle deterioration that occurs in ALS, and is entirely painless and non-invasive. In this study, investigators from multiple institutions plan to compare several different outcome measures, including EIM, in approximately 120 ALS patients, with each patient being followed for a period of one year. All of these measures will be compared to one another and an assessment of their ability to detect disease progression made. Our goal will be to determine whether EIM can serve as a valuable new outcome measure, ultimately leading to substantially faster, more effective ALS trials requiring fewer patients.