Peripheral neuropathy | EPFL Graph Search

Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?

Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.

Peripheral neuropathy, often shortened to neuropathy, is a general term describing damage or disease affecting the nerves. Damage to nerves may impair sensation, movement, gland, or organ function depending on which nerves are affected; in other words, neuropathy affecting motor, sensory, or autonomic nerves result in different symptoms. More than one type of nerve may be affected simultaneously. Peripheral neuropathy may be acute (with sudden onset, rapid progress) or chronic (symptoms begin subtly and progress slowly), and may be reversible or permanent. Common causes include systemic diseases (such as diabetes or leprosy), hyperglycemia-induced glycation, vitamin deficiency, medication (e.g., chemotherapy, or commonly prescribed antibiotics including metronidazole and the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics (such as ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin)), traumatic injury, ischemia, radiation therapy, excessive alcohol consumption, immune system disease, celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or viral infection. It can also be genetic (present from birth) or idiopathic (no known cause). In conventional medical usage, the word neuropathy (neuro-, "nervous system" and -pathy, "disease of") without modifier usually means peripheral neuropathy. Neuropathy affecting just one nerve is called "mononeuropathy" and neuropathy involving nerves in roughly the same areas on both sides of the body is called "symmetrical polyneuropathy" or simply "polyneuropathy". When two or more (typically just a few, but sometimes many) separate nerves in disparate areas of the body are affected it is called "mononeuritis multiplex", "multifocal mononeuropathy", or "multiple mononeuropathy". Neuropathy may cause painful cramps, fasciculations (fine muscle twitching), muscle loss, bone degeneration, and changes in the skin, hair, and nails.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (5)

, , , , , ,

Mutations in the MFN2 gene encoding Mitofusin 2 lead to the development of Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2A (CMT2A), a dominant axonal form of peripheral neuropathy. Mitofusin 2 is localized at both the ou

NATL ACAD SCIENCES2019

Soft multimodal neural interfaces for unravelling sensory neurological circuits

Frédéric Pierre Gérald Michoud

Diseases or injuries affecting the nervous system can dramatically disrupt the quality of life. Despite extensive efforts towards treating dysfunctional nervous systems, the pharmacological and electr

EPFL2019

Schwann cells ER-associated degradation contributes to myelin maintenance in adult nerves and limits demyelination in CMT1B mice

Maurizio Molinari, Francesca Bianchi

In the peripheral nervous system (PNS) myelinating Schwann cells synthesize large amounts of myelin protein zero (P0) glycoprotein, an abundant component of peripheral nerve myelin. In humans, mutatio

2019

Related people (5)

Grégoire Courtine, Silvestro Micera, Stéphanie Lacour, Frédéric Pierre Gérald Michoud, Stanisa Raspopovic

Related concepts (202)

Related courses (4)

NX-421: Neural signals and signal processing

Understanding, processing, and analysis of signals and images obtained from the central and peripheral nervous system

EE-519: Bioelectronics and biomedical microelectronics

The course covers the fundaments of bioelectronics and integrated microelectronics for biomedical and implantable systems. Issues and trade-offs at the circuit and systems levels of invasive microelec

BIO-480: Neuroscience: from molecular mechanisms to disease

The goal of the course is to guide students through the essential aspects of molecular neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases. The student will gain the ability to dissect the molecular basis of

Related lectures (36)

Visual Prostheses: Optic Nerve Stimulation

Explores visual prostheses through optic nerve stimulation for blind patients, covering implantable interfaces, cuff electrodes, and phosphenes.

Peripheral sensory feedback

Explores the importance and organization of sensory feedback in the peripheral nervous system, including artificial implementations.

Neural Signals: Properties and Recordings

Explores the mechanical and electrical properties of neural tissues, including the brain and spinal cord, as well as the recording of neural signals using various techniques.

Ankle jerk reflex

The ankle jerk reflex, also known as the Achilles reflex, occurs when the Achilles tendon is tapped while the foot is dorsiflexed. It is a type of stretch reflex that tests the function of the gastrocnemius muscle and the nerve that supplies it. A positive result would be the jerking of the foot towards its plantar surface. Being a deep tendon reflex, it is monosynaptic. It is also a stretch reflex. These are monosynaptic spinal segmental reflexes.

Paresthesia

Paresthesia is an abnormal sensation of the skin (tingling, pricking, chilling, burning, numbness) with no apparent physical cause. Paresthesia may be transient or chronic, and may have many possible underlying causes. Paresthesias are usually painless and can occur anywhere on the body, but most commonly occur in the arms and legs. The most familiar kind of paresthesia is the sensation known as "pins and needles" after having a limb "fall asleep". A less well-known and uncommon paresthesia is formication, the sensation of insects crawling on the skin.

Diabetic neuropathy

Diabetic neuropathy is various types of nerve damage associated with diabetes mellitus. Symptoms depend on the site of nerve damage and can include motor changes such as weakness; sensory symptoms such as numbness, tingling, or pain; or autonomic changes such as urinary symptoms. These changes are thought to result from a microvascular injury involving small blood vessels that supply nerves (vasa nervorum).