NEW TESTS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF DIABETIC PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) remains a very common chronic complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Its early diagnosis needs to be improved. We also need to enable quick examination for DPN in an increased number of subjects with DM. Aim: To provide a brief overview of the new tests that have been developed for the diagnosis of DPN. Results: The most important of these are the indicator test Neuropad for the detection of reduced sweating, the NC-stat®/DPNCheck™ device for the automated nerve conduction study of the sural nerve by non-experts, the very small portable VibraTip device for the examination of vibratory sensation and the very simple Ipswich Touch Test for sensory examination. In clinical practice, the most important and widely used new test is Neuropad. It has been shown that the latter is a very useful screening test mainly to exclude DPN. Conclusions: The new tests are useful to facilitate the diagnosis of DPN.