What is (are) Mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalopathy syndrome ?
Mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalopathy (MNGIE) syndrome is a condition that particularly affects the digestive system and nervous system. Signs and symptoms of this condition most often begin by age 20 and worsen with time. Almost all people with MNGIE have gastrointestinal dysmotility, in which the muscles and nerves of the digestive system do not move food through the digestive tract efficiently. Affected individuals also experience peripheral neuropathy, droopy eyelids (ptosis), weakness of the muscles that control eye movement (ophthalmoplegia), and hearing loss. Leukoencephalopathy, which is the deterioration of a type of brain tissue known as white matter, is a hallmark of MNGIE; however it does not usually cause symptoms in people with this disorder. Mutations in the TYMP gene cause MNGIE, and this condition is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern.