Diabetic peripheral neuropathy: epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinic, diagnostics, treatment

Abstract

The article contains the review of literature data dedicated to the most common complication associated with diabetes mellitus (DM) - the diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). DPN is regarded as economic burden for any state and significantly influences the quality of patient’s life. DPN is characterized by progressive degeneration of peripheral nerves that leads to pain syndrome, movement disorders and loss of sensation. There is a set of theories of development of DPN, but the major etiological factor is the chronic hyperglycemia. The article describes pathophysiologic mechanisms of DPN development. It is noted that considering high variability of clinical pattern DPN has no unified classification. The article addresses issues related to diagnostics and criteria of establishing the diagnosis. Special attention of the article is dedicated to pathogenic and expected treatment methods.