What is Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease?

In this article we will discuss about Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease

In this article we will briefly discuss about Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease. So let’s get started.

It is a type of hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy,an inherited disorder of the peripheral nervous system characterized by progressive muscle weakness and atrophy along with loss of sensation in upper and lower limbs or extremities. It is named after three physicians-Jean-Martin Charcot,Piere Marie and Howard Henry Tooth who had described this disease in the year 1886. Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease affects 1 in 2500 people.

Sign and Symptoms include

Muscle weakness and atrophy

Loss of sensation in upper and lower extremities

Usually Foot Drop is the initial symptom other deformities associated with this disease are Hammer toe(deformity of proximal interphalangeal joint of 2nd,3rd or 4th toe),Stork leg(wasting of muscles of lower limb),pes cavus(high arched feet),pes planus(flat arched feet)

Sensory and proprioceptive nerve in the hands and feet are often damaged

Overuse of an affected limb can cause numbness, spasm and cramping

If nerves that innervates diaphragm and intercoastal muscles are affected it can result in respiratory impairment.

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