The following diseases are the main clinical forms of damage to the peripheral nervous system:
- polyneuropathies — multiple symmetrical involvement of peripheral nerves;
- mononeuropathies, in which a separate nerve is affected;
- radiculopathy — radicular damage;
- ganglionitis — involvement of nodes;
- plexopathy — involvement of the plexuses.
Depending on the involvement of nerve structures in the pathological process, damage may be:
- axonal (axonal cylinder damage); demyelination (destruction of the myelin sheath);
- Wallerian degeneration (degeneration of the transected proximal nerve trunk).
By the etiological feature, neuropathies are divided into the following types:
- inflammatory;
- immune-mediated;
- toxic;
- traumatic.
The latter can be the result of the detrimental action of external causes or are caused by endogenous influences, for example, compression of nerve trunks by nearby structures (muscles, ligaments — the so-called tunnel neuropathies). This group includes injury to the spinal roots by a deformed intervertebral disc or bone osteophytes (this group of neuropathies may be caused by spinal osteochondrosis and is considered in a special section).
The prevention and treatment of diseases of the peripheral nervous system due to their high prevalence and mainly affecting people of working age are an urgent medical problem playing a great economic role. In the overall structure of morbidity, they occupy the third place after acute respiratory infections and domestic injuries.