NEWS AND BLOG

Diabetic foot check nerve conducting testing has previously been the exclusive preserve of clinical neurophysiologists although the tests performed are not complicated. There are nerve conduction tests which need specialist skills and equipment to be performed but the testing of the responses from the nerves in the hand is simple to perform when the equipment is designed specifically for the task. Nerve conduction tests do not directly give a diagnosis. The diagnosis is always based on the symptoms and the disease history of the patient. We could compare the nerve conducting testing to testing blood pressure or measuring a patient’s body temperature.

DPN diabetic peripheral neuropathy test

Based on those tests it is not possible to say what causes the abnormal tests results without a clinical examination. The same goes for diagnosing diabetic foot or DPN diabetic peripheral neuropathy. When a clinical examination based on symptoms and disease history gives the indication of DPN, a nerve conduction study is then performed on medial plantar nerve. Stimulating the nerve from the big toe or hallux, the nerve response peak latencies can be compared accurately. When the nerve conduction tests findings are abnormal and it matches the clinical indications it is possible to make a reliable diagnosis of DPN and to estimate the severity. Estimating the severity of the neuropathy helps to determine the proper treatment.

Mediracer NCS system

When the responses from the nerve conduction tests are normal and there are symptoms indicative of another pathology. These patients need to be sent to see a specialist for further examination. The same goes for when the responses measured can’t be interpreted reliably due to a lack of clearly defined response peaks. Generally, nine out of ten diagnoses can be confirmed using Mediracer NCS system. This makes a confirmed diagnosis possible in any clinic without need to send patients away for nerve conduction studies. This saves time and money both of which are limited in today’s health care systems. This kind of Point Of Care device will be increasingly common in primary care to help streamline the patient pathway and to save money and resources, these are all important criteria for the development of primary care.

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