Charcot's syndrome - what is it and how is it manifested? We will devote this article to the presented issues.
Disease Description
Charcot's Syndrome (or intermittent claudication) is a disease that is characterized by the onset, as well as increased pain and weakness in the lower extremities while walking. Such manifestations often cause the patient to stop, because at rest these symptoms are practically not disturbing. Most often, people are exposed to this deviation as a result of:
- excessive enthusiasm for alcohol and tobacco;
- excess weight;
- high blood cholesterol;
- heredity and so on.
Main symptoms
Charcot's syndrome is a rather painful condition that causes the patient inconvenience and significantly impairs the quality of his life. With such a deviation, a person often complains of a feeling of fatigue, as well as discomfort and pain in the lower limbs while walking, especially in the gluteal region and calf muscles. There are also cases when pain is localized in the muscle tissue of the thighs and lower back. As patients diagnosed with Charcot noted, the disease partially subsides and subsides immediately after a short rest.
With such a disease, in the distal parts of the lower extremities the patient often has trophic and vegetative-vascular disorders (for example, acrocyanosis, cooling of the feet, marbling of the skin and their dystrophic changes, lack of pulse on the arteries of the feet, as well as finger gangrene, which often spreads in the proximal direction).
Among other things, Charcot's syndrome is characterized by degenerative and dystrophic changes in bones and joints (hypertrophy of individual sections, cartilage degeneration, bone sequestration, osteophytes, intraarticular and spontaneous fractures of the tubular bones). In addition, looseness and decreased joint sensitivity significantly increase the risk of traumatic injuries.
Causes of occurrence
Charcot's syndrome is a disease caused by damage to the arteries of the legs (thromboangiitis, atherosclerosis obliterans, peripheral form of nonspecific aortoarteritis , etc.). Pain in the patient occurs due to insufficient blood flow to the muscle tissues of the lower extremities. The disease can also arise as a result of compression of the cauda equina in case of spinal stenosis, less often as a result of spinal cord ischemia in case of arteriovenous malformation or aortic atherosclerosis.
Disease treatment
Therapy of intermittent claudication consists in the direct treatment of the main source of the disease, namely the arteries. As a rule, in such situations, doctors advise their patients to abandon all bad habits, reduce weight and follow a strict diet. Also, patients are assigned a special set of physical exercises that will defeat the signs of the disease.
As for conservative methods of treatment, they include the intake of various medications. Their action gives an anesthetic and vasodilator effect. Also, pharmacy products help lower blood cholesterol and thin it.
In case of acute need, surgical intervention is used, during which the lumen of the artery expands by introducing a special catheter into it.
Charcot-Marie-Tooth Syndrome
This deviation is a group of hereditary diseases characterized by degeneration of peripheral nerve fibers. It should be specially noted that different variants of the named syndrome can be based on different genetic defects. Most of these diseases are inherited by an autosomal dominant mechanism. However, at present, variants of diseases associated with the adhesion of the X chromosome have been identified.
With a diagnosis such as Charcot-Marie syndrome, the patient's spinal cord and peripheral nerves are affected. Depending on a specific genetic defect, a person may form axonal or demyelinating neuropathy.
Most often, the deviation presented begins to develop in adolescence or adolescence. Symptoms of this group of disease intensify over time, and the disease progresses, resulting in a moderate degree of disability that does not lead to death.
Symptoms of Deviation
This disease begins to manifest with atrophy of the distal muscle tissue of the legs and weakness. Over time, the feet become deformed, and the fingers become hammer-shaped and large. In children with such a diagnosis, a delay in physical development is almost always observed.
Hereditary Disease Treatment
There is no specific therapy for such a pathological condition. However, to improve the well-being of the patient, doctors often prescribe therapeutic exercises and occupational therapy. In addition, patients with this diagnosis actively use all kinds of medical devices to eliminate pain symptoms. For example, with a hanging foot, an orthopedic bracket is used to strengthen the lower leg and so on. Genetic counseling is also quite significant.
Von Willebrand disease
It should be noted that not only Charcot's syndrome belongs to hereditary diseases. Von Willebrand disease can also be transmitted from immediate family members.
As is known, the deviation presented is the most common type of hereditary disorder leading to a blood clotting disorder or a coagulation process. However, often this disease occurs during life as a result of other diseases (that is, the acquired form).
Symptoms of the disease
The risk of bleeding with such a deviation varies significantly depending on a particular type of disease. The main signs of this hereditary disorder are periodic nosebleeds, unreasonable appearance of bruises and bruises, bleeding gums and so on. In women, menstruation can become plentiful, and during childbirth there is a risk of losing a large amount of blood.
Disease treatment
Patients with such a diagnosis do not need any treatment, but the risk of heavy bleeding is always increased. Thus, the patient may be recommended drugs that reduce this overt symptom of the disease. If the patient is planning to undergo a surgical operation, then doctors must carry out preventive treatment.