Disorders of the Peripheral Nerves/Peripheral Neuropathy
Four types of pathophysiological changes can affect peripheral nerves:
1) Wallerian degeneration:
• develops after injury to nerve
• interruption or transection of axon pathological changes (Wallerian degeneration)
• axonal segment and myelin sheath distal to injury breakdown and conduction fails followed by attempts at regeneration (depends on proximity of nerve ends, the extent of Schwann tube and surrounding tissue damage)
2) Axonal atrophy and degeneration:
• distal part of axon breaks down due to a metabolic disturbance
• results in denervation of muscle atrophy (reinnervation from surrounding nerves can occur)
• changes usually have a sensory loss in ‘glove-and-stocking’ distribution
3) Neuronal degeneration (neuronopathy):
• destruction of nerve cell body
• loss of axons and degeneration of myelin sheath
• (often difficult to distinguish from axonal atrophy degeneration)
4) Demyelination:
• develops after damage to myelin sheath, with sparing of axons
• nerve conduction is slowed
• no muscle atrophy (muscle is not dennervated)
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Sub Topics:
- Cheiro-pedal Syndrome
- Chemotherapy Induced Neuropathy
- Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy
- Classification
- Critical illness polyneuropathy
- Driving with Peripheral Neuropathy
- Grading Systems for Peripheral Nerve Disorders
- Guillain-Barre Syndrome
- Hereditary Motor and Sensory Neuropathies (HMSN)
- Ischaemic Neuropathy
- Mononeuropathy Multiplex
- Neuropathy and other systemic diseases
- Nutritional Neuropathy
- Peripheral Nerve Injuries
- POEMS syndrome
- Refsum’s Disease
- Toxic or Drug Induced Neuropathy
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