NEUROPATHY AND NEUROMUSCULAR CONDITIONS

NEUROPATHY AND NEUROMUSCULAR CONDITIONS

Neuropathies are defined as damage to the peripheral nerves. There are several causes for neuropathy, but the most common cause is diabetes. Other causes include autoimmune diseases, vitamin deficiencies, protein abnormalities and sometimes post viral infective diseases. In general, once we find the etiology of the neuropathy, the treatment is aimed at the root cause of the neuropathy. In addition, we also offer symptomatic treatment for the symptoms. The main symptoms are numbness, tingling, pain and weakness. At the Neurology Center of Las Vegas we have a comprehensive approach towards Neuropathy and its treatment. We are able to perform EMG and nerve conduction studies to detect the extent of neuropathy as well as in some cases the etiology.

In addition, we also diagnose conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, which a fairly common condition involving the median nerve in the hand. This typically results in numbness tingling as well as weakness in the hand muscles especially involving the thumb.

In some cases, the predominant involvement is after various muscles of the body. Typically, in myopathies, proximal muscles are generally more affected than the distal muscles. Again, there are several etiologies including autoimmune conditions such as polymyositis or dermatomyositis, myasthenia gravis. Usually in children and young adults, muscular dystrophy may be a consideration. Similar to neuropathy, we again perform a comprehensive work up and treat accordingly. When we see rare serious conditions such as ALS, we use our resources refer patients to tertiary centers for evaluation and possible research trials.