polyneuritis
Meaning of polyneuritis: An older label for damage affecting many nerves at once, kept mainly where inflammation is genuinely the cause.
Definition of polyneuritis
Polyneuritis is inflammation affecting many peripheral nerves at the same time, producing weakness, numbness, tingling and pain that usually begin in the feet and hands. The pattern is symmetrical, appearing on both sides of the body at once. The word is now used narrowly, because most conditions that damage many nerves together involve no inflammation at all.
Why has the word largely been replaced?
The ending itis promises inflammation. When many nerves fail together, inflammation is the cause in only a minority of cases. Diabetes, alcohol, kidney failure, vitamin shortages, chemotherapy and inherited faults account for far more. Polyneuropathy, a word that claims nothing about mechanism, is now used for the whole group, and polyneuritis is reserved for the inflammatory members of it. Older notes and older textbooks use the two interchangeably, which is worth knowing when reading them.
What does it feel like?
Symptoms start where the nerves are longest, so the toes and soles go first and the fingertips follow later, giving the pattern described as glove and stocking. Sensation may be dulled, or it may turn unpleasant, with burning, electric shocks, or pain from a light touch that should not hurt at all. Weakness shows up as tripping over a foot that will not lift, or as fumbling with buttons. Nerves controlling blood pressure, sweating, digestion and the bladder can be caught up as well, which is why dizziness on standing sometimes accompanies it.
Which causes are genuinely inflammatory?
| Condition | How it behaves |
|---|---|
| Guillain-Barre syndrome | Weakness climbing from the legs over days, often after an infection |
| Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy | The same process running over months, often relapsing |
| Vasculitis | Inflamed vessels starve nerves, so the pattern is patchy rather than even |
| Leprosy | Direct infection of nerves, still a leading cause worldwide |
| Sarcoidosis | Inflammatory deposits involving nerves alongside other organs |
The distinction decides what is worth trying. Treatments that suppress or redirect the immune system help the inflammatory group and do nothing for the rest, where the work goes into the underlying cause instead. Nerve conduction studies, spinal fluid examination and blood tests are how the two are told apart.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Nerve conduction studies were requested to characterize the polyneuritis.
Good to know
The suffix implies inflammation, yet most conditions damaging many nerves at once are not inflammatory, so polyneuropathy serves as the accurate umbrella term while polyneuritis names only the inflammatory subset.
Word origin
Where “polyneuritis” comes from
Poly- comes from the Greek polys, meaning many, and neuron is the Greek for nerve; the ending -itis marks inflammation.