Assessment of the medial dorsal cutaneous, dorsal sural, and medial plantar nerves in impaired glucose tolerance and diabetic patients with normal sural and superficial peroneal nerve responses.

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluated the nerve conduction study (NCS) parameters of the most distal sensory nerves of the lower extremities-namely, the medial dorsal cutaneous (MDC), dorsal sural (DS), and medial plantar (MP) nerves-in diabetic (DM) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) patients who displayed normal findings on their routine NCSs.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Standard NCSs were performed on healthy control (HC), DM, and IGT groups (N = 147). The bilateral NCS parameters of the MDC, DS, and MP nerves were investigated. The Toronto Clinical Scoring System (TCSS) was assessed for the DM and IGT groups.

RESULTS

The mean TCSS scores of the IGT and DM groups were 2.5 ± 2.3 and 2.8 ± 2.2, respectively. No significant differences between the two groups were observed. After adjustment of age and BMI, the DM group showed significant NCS differences in DS and MDC nerves compared with the HC group (P < 0.05). These differences were also exhibited in the left DS of the IGT group (P = 0.0003). More advanced NCS findings were observed in the DM group. Bilateral abnormal NCS responses in these distal sensory nerves were found in 40 and 16% of DM and IGT patients, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

These results showed that the simultaneous assessment of the most distal sensory nerves allowed the detection of early NCS changes in the IGT and DM groups, even when the routine NCS showed normal findings.