Sensitivity of medial plantar nerve in nerve conduction studies V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A comparative study assessing whether inclusion of the medial plantar nerve in routine nerve conduction studies (sural and superficial peroneal) significantly increases the sensitivity of testing for distal polyneuropathy in patients with type II diabetes mellitus.
IRAS ID
146710
Contact name
Paul L Furlong
Contact email
Research summary
Nerve conduction studies (NCS) are tests which can be performed on patients with diabetes mellitus to assess symptoms of numbness, pins and needles, and burning in the hands and feet - referred to as diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN). These tests are performed to assure the doctor that the symptoms are due to the diabetes (and not another on-going condition) and can be used as a baseline to track its progression.
There are three main nerves in the feet that can be tested for DPN: the sural, the superficial pereoneal and the medial plantar. Common current practice suggests testing the sural and superficial peroneal nerves, with the sural nerve considered to be best at picking up abnormalities early. Studies have suggested that testing the medial plantar nerve may show abnormalities even earlier than the sural but can be unreliable to test in older age groups.
This study will involve testing all three nerves in patients referred for screening to see if adding the medial plantar nerve to the routine NCS (sural and superficial peroneal) increases the sensitivity of the test to DPN in all age groups (20 years+).
REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
14/WS/1042
Date of REC Opinion
1 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion