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Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
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Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is not one disease but a group of inherited neuropathies: nerve problems that run in families and that affect both movement and sensation, meaning they are motor and sensory.
The nerves it damages are the peripheral ones, which link the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and to sensory cells. A cord with damaged insulation and one with a broken wire fail in different ways: here the insulation is myelin, and damage there used to be called the demyelinating form; the wire is the axon, and damage there, the axonal form.
That damage worsens over time, and it can change sensation and gradually thin the muscles of the feet, the legs and the hands, which in medicine is called atrophy. It usually shows up in childhood or adolescence.
In brief
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a group of inherited peripheral neuropathies, both motor and sensory.
It damages the peripheral nerves, which link the brain and spinal cord to muscles and sensory cells; it was previously classified into a demyelinating form, affecting myelin, and an axonal form, affecting the axon.
A cord with damaged insulation and one with a broken wire fail in different ways.
That damage worsens over time and can change sensation and thin the muscles of the feet, legs and hands; it usually appears in childhood or adolescence.
Sources (2)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingCharcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, StatPearlsPublished
- MedlinePlus Genetics, U.S. National Library of MedicineCharcot-Marie-Tooth disease, MedlinePlus GeneticsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated