Diseases of the Peripheral Nerve

What is Peripheral Neuropathy?

Peripheral neuropathy describes damage to the peripheral nervous system, which transmits information from the brain and spinal cord to every other part of the body. Peripheral neuropathy is not a single disease. It’s a general term for a series of disorders that result from damage to the body’s peripheral nervous system.

Types of peripheral neuropathy supported by the MDA

  • Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT) – also known as Hereditary Motor and Sensory Neuropathy (HMSN) and includes Dejerine-Sotta Disease which is also known as CMT-Type 3
  • Hereditary Sensory Neuropathy
  • Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy


This diagram shows the CNS (brain and spinal cord) in pink and the PNS (the other nerves which connect to the CNS) in blue. This image was sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_nervous_system on 19/10/2015 credit for the image goes to: William Crochot.

 

Q&A: Here is where we answer some of our members questions. If you have any questions please email them to info@mda.org.nz and we will endeavour to answer them.