Familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: first report from India.

We report two patients diagnosed to have familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FALS). A 40 year old lady had progressive weakness and atrophy of the limbs and bulbar palsy from the age of 39 years and with electrophysiological evaluation was confirmed as definite ALS. Her mother had presented in 1978 at the age of 42 years with symptoms and signs of ALS. The other patient was a 43 year old male with rapidly progressive weakness, wasting and spasticity of the limbs and bulbar palsy of 4 months duration and with electrophysiological evidence of diffuse anterior horn cell involvement. His father also had onset of illness at 43 years of age with gradually progressive spasticity and atrophy of the extremities followed by bulbar palsy. In the first instance the mother had a duration of illness of 8 years while in the second the father lived for 15 years after the onset of illness.