Nerve Ultrasound Useful in Diagnosing Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy in Diabetic Patients
A small study by Malaysian researchers showed that nerve ultrasound may help clinicians distinguish between chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) and diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy (DDSP) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). In DM patients with poor glycemic control, CIDP may be challenging to diagnose because the condition presents similarly to DDSP. Moreover, CIDP and DDSP may sometimes coexist.
In comparing nerve ultrasound findings between DDSP and CIDP patients, the investigators found the following:
CIDP patients had significantly larger cross-sectional areas of the median nerve at the mid-arm, ulnar nerve at the wrist, mid forearm and mid-arm, and radial nerve at mid forearm than their DDSP counterparts;
CIDP patients had markedly larger nerves at the proximal and non-entrapment sites of the upper limbs.
Based on these findings, the investigators concluded that nerve ultrasound may be a useful adjunct in differentiating CIDP from DDSP in patients with DM.
Read more here.
Reference
Tan CY, Arumugam T, Razali SNO, Yahya MA, Goh KJ, Shahrizaila N. Nerve ultrasound can distinguish chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy from demyelinating diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy. J Clin Neurosci. 2018 Aug 22. pii: S0967-5868(18)30772-0. doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2018.08.031.
