Respiratory Management of Als. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

The first comprehensive textbook on the assessment and management of respiratory symptoms in ALS and other motor neuron diseases!

Respiratory Management of ALS: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis brings together the latest research, expert opinions, and treatment options for respiratory symptom management. It provides a detailed, step-by-step approach to assessment of upper and lower airway structures and how motor neuron loss impairs function. Treatment options emphasize symptom management and enhanced quality of life. Palliative care, end-of-life decision making, and long term mechanical ventilation in patients with MND/ALS are included.This textbook encourages critical thinking through 1) inclusion of researchable questions at the end of chapters, and 2) discussion of different approaches to patient assessment and symptom management when medical evidence is lacking. Students will be encouraged to use their understanding of anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, lung expansion and secretion mobilization techniques to review, support or challenge current practices in MND/ALS. Respiratory Management of ALS: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis includes chapter outlines, case histories, introductions, summaries, research questions, and more!

Respiratory therapy students, respiratory care practitioners, nurses in neurology clinics, primary care physicians, and pulmonologists whose practice includes patients with motor neuron disease will all benefit from the detailed review of bulbar and thoracic muscles, loss of function, and treatment recommendations.

Key Features

• Reviews anatomy and physiologic function of the neurorespiratory system (central nervous system, spinal cord, motor nerves, oropharyngeal and respiratory muscles)

• Details how loss of upper motor and lower motor neurons impair upper airway and lower airway function and the major causes of morbidity and mortality in people with motor neuron disease

• Summarizes the main components of neuromuscular respiratory failure: aspiration, inability to cough, and inability to ventilate

• Teaches systematic respiratory assessment of patients diagnosed with motor neuron disease: pulmonary function, sleep disordered breathing, nocturnal and diurnal hypoventilation, chronic aspiration, and metabolic cost of respiratory insufficiency

• Provides practical approach to managing people diagnosed with neuromuscular disease

• Emphasizes respiratory management considerations throughout the continuum of care: hospital emergency department, intensive care and inpatient acute care, outpatient multidisciplinary clinic, long-term care, and home care

• Underlines the clinical partnership of patient, family, physicians, respiratory care practitioners and other allied health professionals in the management of motor neuron disease

Table of Contents

Preface  
Acknowledgements  
Chapter  1  Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Overview: Definition, Epidemiology, History
Chapter  2  Neuroanatomy and Respiratory Physiology
Chapter  3  The Upper Airway
Chapter  4  The Lower Airway
Chapter  5  Clinical Respiratory Assessment of ALS
Chapter  6  Pulmonary Function and Respiratory Assessment of Neuromuscular Patients Objective measures of lung function
Chapter  7  Volume Expansion, Secretion Mobilization, and Cough Assistance in ALS
Chapter  8  Noninvasive Positive Pressure Ventilation
Chapter  9  Tracheostomy and Mechanical Ventilation
Chapter  10  Home Care of the ALS Patient
Chapter  11  Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care

About the Author

Lee Guion, RRT, MA - Forbes Norris MDA/ALS Research Center

Lee Guion MA, RRT is a respiratory care practitioner and member of the multidisciplinary care team at the Forbes Norris MDA/ALS Research Center in San Francisco, CA. Her research has been presented at the MND/ALS Scientific Symposium’s Allied Professionals’ Forum. She is a regular contributor to AART Times, publication of the American Association for Respiratory Care. She chairs the Skyline College Respiratory Therapy Program Community Advisory Committee and coordinates student clinical rotations in the department of neurology at California Pacific Medical Center.