Saturday, 7 November 2026
6:00 am US Eastern Time / 12:00 pm Central European Time / 8:00 pm Japanese Standard Time
Recent advances in ALS treatment have made early diagnosis increasingly important, as therapeutic interventions may be most effective when started as early as possible. This has led to continued efforts to improve the tools used to identify ALS at an earlier stage.
The IFCN Awaji Criteria, developed by an IFCN expert group in 2006, continue to be used in ALS clinical trials. More recently, the Gold Coast Criteria have provided another approach to diagnosis, emphasizing the exclusion of other disease processes that may mimic ALS.
In this Masterclass, Prof. Kaji will review the history and development of the IFCN Awaji Criteria and discuss the role of electrophysiological testing in the diagnosis of ALS. He will also address how these techniques can help identify other potentially treatable causes of muscular atrophy, including multifocal motor neuropathy.
Ryuji Kaji, MD, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience at Tokushima University in Japan and a neurologist with expertise in clinical neurophysiology, movement disorders, motor neuron disease, and neuromuscular disorders. He previously served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology at Tokushima University and as Director of the National Utano Hospital in Kyoto.
Prof. Kaji has held numerous leadership roles in national and international neurological organizations, including the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology (IFCN) and World Federation of Neurology. He organized the IFCN Awaji Criteria Expert Meeting and was among the authors of the resulting electrodiagnostic criteria for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His research has also contributed to advances in dystonia, ALS, motor neuropathies, and clinical neurophysiology.