[Respiratory disease and diaphragm paralysis in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease]

Diaphragmatic bilateral palsy is uncommon in children. The most important etiologies are thoracic surgery and obstetric trauma. Respiratory muscle impairment is a rare phenomenon in patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). However, it can be associated with restrictive pulmonary impairment, phrenic nerve dysfunction or thoracic cage abnormalities. We report two paediatric cases of CMT disease with type 2 respiratory failure due to diaphragmatic dysfunction. In both cases treatment with non-invasive mechanical ventilation resulted in satisfactory clinical improvement. Evidence of phrenic damage was the main clue in one patient in order to obtain an accurate diagnostic of her disease.