Grant: Operating Grant

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disabling, rapidly progressive, and fatal neurodegenerative disorder. There is no treatment that significantly slows progression. Increasing age is an important risk factor for developing ALS; thus, the societal impact of this devastating disease will become more profound as the population ages. A significant hurdle to finding effective treatment has been an inability to accurately measure brain degeneration in humans. Advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques hold promise in this respect, and may assist in aiding diagnosis, prognostication, and the efficient testing of new drugs. In this multicentre study, different MRI features of brain degeneration will be measured in a large sample of patients with ALS. The ability of these MRI features to track disease progression will be tested.