Motor Neuron Disease Prognosis – Future Predictions

Motor neurone diseases, as the name implies, are those which directly affect the motor neurons which are responsible for various kinds of voluntarily movements of the human body such as speaking, swallowing, and walking. On the other hand, prognosis is defined as the forecast of a condition of a certain illness or disease. Thus, motor neurone disease prognosis refers to a prediction or forecast of the disease upon which the life of the patient depends on.

Generally, most cases of motor neurone diseases are known to progress in a quick manner. Usually in the beginning, MND affects only a single part of the body such as the hands, feet, neck etc, but over time, would spread all over the body and affect multiple regions. Sad thing, though, is that in several years time, people inflicted with motor neurone diseases would need medical help in performing even the simplest daily activities such as walking and eating. This is proof on how deadly the MND gets through the course of time. As such, most motor neurone disease prognosis or predictions is that it gets fatal within 2-5 years and if such condition occurs, the inflicted person would only have a lifespan of about 1-5 years; although most people die within 5-10 years after diagnosis.

One research suggests that as a rough estimate, only 1 out of 5 people inflicted with the motor neurone disease survive for 5 years, while the same research state that only 1 out of 10 people survive for 10 years. More grievous is that 50% of afflicted people die in only 14 months, while the other half dies after 14 months. However, the rate of the disease progression varies from one person to another. For one person, weeks or months go by without any progress from the diseases while there are those that experience changes almost every week.

See What is A Motor Neuron Disease and Motor Neurone Disease Life Expectancy too for more