‘Observing’ diabetic neuropathy with corneal confocal microscopy: the effect of improvement of risk factors

Abstract

Evaluation of: Tavakoli M, Kallinikos P, Iqbal A et al. Corneal confocal microscopy detects improvement in corneal nerve morphology with an improvement in risk factors for diabetic neuropathy. Diabet. Med. 28(10), 1261–1267 (2011).

A recent observational study has evaluated whether a novel examination method, corneal confocal microscopy, can be used to detect changes in corneal nerve morphology following improvements of conventional risk factors in diabetic patients with mild-to-moderate neuropathy. At 2-year follow-up, improvement of glycemic control (HbA1c) correlated significantly with increases in corneal nerve fiber density. The results add new supportive evidence to data from previous studies of corneal confocal microscopy for its potential use as a convenient noninvasive technique in trials of therapeutic interventions for diabetic neuropathy. Since so far only intensive glycemic control has been proven as an effective measure, this could represent an important advance in the search for new treatment options for this major diabetic complication.

Keywords::

• corneal confocal microscopy
• corneal nerves
• diabetic neuropathy
• risk factors

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.