[Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Peroneal muscular atrophy]

The classification of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is provisional, because the chromosome and gene localization is still not precisely known, and gene products have not been identified. This article presents an analysis of the clinical, genetical and neurophysiological data of eight Charcot-Marie-Tooth patients. The study was carried out to find out if it is possible to classify the disease from neurophysiological and genetical data. We found Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease transmitted autosomal dominant in three cases, whereas no family pattern was apparent in the remaining five. Among the three cases of autosomal dominant transmission, two were of the segmental demyelinization type, and one had axonal neuropathy. The five patients without a distinct family pattern consisted of three with segmental demyelinization and two with axonal neuropathy. Thus, the neurophysiological subdivision did not correlate with the inheritance, which indicates a genetical heterogeneity for the Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.