school work

[Kamonyana]

what is axonal neuropathy?

[peacejude]

what is the future of a baby having axonal neuropathy (regardless of the type and cause since i don't know them yet for my daughter)? in most babies, what could be the common reason behind axonal neuropathy? will they be able to walk?

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

A typical nerve cell has a cell body, its small and short projections (dendrites) and one single long tail like projection (axon). This entire cell is microscopic. If you could some how enlarge the whole picture where the cell body is the size of a tennis ball, the axon would run just over a kilometer long! That's a typical neuronal cell.

Any injury to the axonal part is called Axonal Neuropathy. This is not a disease by itself. It is a manifestation. There are many causes for axonal neuropathy. Diabetes, alcoholism, vitamin deficiencies, hereditary neuropathies, etc are some of them. Treating the root cause helps treat the neuropathy.

Regards