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GTR Home > Conditions/Phenotypes > Giant axonal neuropathy

Summary

Excerpted from the GeneReview: GAN-Related Neurodegeneration
GAN-related neurodegeneration comprises a phenotypic continuum ranging from severe (sometimes called classic giant axonal neuropathy) to milder pure early-onset peripheral motor and sensory neuropathies. The classic giant axonal neuropathy phenotype typically manifests as an infantile-onset neurodegenerative disorder, starting as a severe peripheral motor and sensory neuropathy and evolving into central nervous system impairment (intellectual disability, seizures, cerebellar signs, and pyramidal tract signs). Most affected individuals become wheelchair dependent in the second decade of life and eventually bedridden with severe polyneuropathy, ataxia, and dementia. Death usually occurs in the third decade. At the milder end of the spectrum are predominantly motor and sensory neuropathies (with little to no CNS involvement) that overlap with the axonal form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathies.

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