Practical Approach to Peripheral Neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy occurs as a component of several common and many rare diseases. It is heterogeneous in etiology, diverse in pathology, and varied in severity. Peripheral neuropathy is often overlooked, underestimated and not evaluated in day to day practice. The prevalence of neuropathy is well studied in patients with diabetes mellitus in most of the studies and other causes of neuropathies are not well documented. The overall prevalence of neuropathy in south Indian diabetic population is 19.1%. A practical approach is therefore necessary to identify and manage neuropathies in clinical practice. Though there are lot of algorithmic approaches, this article gives a simple bedside assessment for peripheral neuropathic symptoms.