Additional Causes of Neuropathy in Patients with Diabetes
Causes of neuropathy other than the diabetes itself are relatively common in diabetic patients with distal sensory polyneuropathy.[54,55] In a retrospective study of 100 consecutive diabetic patients with symptomatic neuropathy and often rare features, diabetes accounted for 74% of the neuropathies in the whole group of patients, and for 79% of those with LDDP.[54] A third of patients had a neuropathy unrelated to diabetes. Chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy, which was diagnosed in 9% of the patients, was the most common nondiabetic cause of neuropathy in this population. Comparative features of motor deficits in diabetic patients are detailed in Table 1 . Before attributing a polyneuropathy to diabetes, it is important to exclude general causes of neuropathy, such as alcoholism, vitamin deficiency, drug-induced neuropathy, monoclonal gammopathy, POEMS syndrome, and amyloid polyneuropathy.
Pressure palsy seems to be more frequent in diabetic than in nondiabetic individuals;[56] for example, carpal tunnel syndrome was reported in 12% of patients with diabetes, compared with 4-5% of individuals in the general population.[6]
Nat Clin Pract Neurol. 2007;3(6):331-340. © 2007 Nature Publishing Group
The author declared no competing interests.
Cite this: Diabetic Neuropathy--A Review - Medscape - Apr 01, 2007.
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