Understanding Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP): Causes, Symptoms, and Management

What is it?

Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIPD) is a neurological disorder characterized by progressive weakness and impaired sensory function in the legs and arms. The disorder is caused as a result of damage to the myelin sheath, the fatty layer that envelops and protectsnerve fibers in the body that make up the peripheral nervous system.
CIDP is more common in young adults, and more common in men. It is often manifested by tingling or loss of sensation which begins in the toes or hands, weakness, loss of deep reflexes, fatigue and other signs. CIPD is closely linked to Gillian-Barra syndrome, an acute inflammatory autoimmune disease.

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Signs & symptoms

The disorder is characterized by slowly, progressive (over at least 2 months) symmetric weakness of both muscles around the hip and shoulder as well as of the hands and feet.
Symptoms may include Impaired motor function and/or abnormal, or loss of, sensation, incoordination, numbness, tingling, or prickling sensations. Patients might also present fatigue, burning, pain, clumsiness, difficulty swallowing and double vision.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis is based on clinical signs that the patient presents and a physical examination. Clinical symptoms include severe walking difficulties within a few months, the appearance of tingling or abnormal sensations in the limbs, loss of reflexes in the knees and ankles.Tests that can be of diagnostic help include nerve conduction testing and electromyography looking for very slow nerve conduction velocities, lumbar puncture looking for elevated spinal fluid protein without many inflammatory cells and MRI imaging of the nerve roots looking for enlargement and signs of inflammation.

Treatment

Treatment may include steroids such as prednisone alone or sometimes in combination with immunosupression drugs. Plasmapheresis and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) ere also found to be effective in dealing with the disease.
Physiotherapy treatments may improve the patient's muscle strength, function and mobility, as well as work to minimize muscle and tendon contraction and joint deformity.

☝️ This is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult with your physician before making any medical decision.

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Source of Information - We analyze big data of more than 23 million patients de-identified medical records from the following sources:

National Institution of Health ∙ World Health Organization ∙ University of Illinois hospital