Diabetic neuropathy--choices of treatment

Abstract

Diabetic neuropathy represents a heterogeneous pathology taking place during diabetes mellitus (DM) evolution, hiding possibilities for rapid evolution which threaten even the life of the diabetic person. As a result, the recognition as precocious as possible of the neuropathy-induced alterations and the ways of treating this complication are essential. Diabetic neuropathy is classified in peripheral and vegetative, each of them with numerous clinical forms. Nevertheless, its etiopathogeny remains not totally understood, many theories existing for explaining it, its development being probably the result of a mixture of pathogenic mechanisms. Although there are difficulties in appreciation of the neuropathy prevalence in diabetic people, it is generally known that this alteration is one of the most frequent and invalidant major complication that affects this population, treatment as precocious as possible being essential. alpha-lipoic acid, substance with antioxidant properties, plays a central role in the energetic metabolism, principally functioning as a coenzyme in multienzymatic mitochondrial complexes alpha-lipoic acid has complex actions on different levels of the human organism, having many indications in different diseases, including DM. The results of numerous clinical studies have confirmed its efficacy in treating diabetic neuropathy. The present study has proposed itself to investigate the long-term effect of the short-term i.v. treatment with Thiogamma 600 (alpha-lipoic acid) in patients having type I or 2 DM, proving neuropathy symptoms and signs reduction evaluated in 3 months time, without metabolic control of the disease. If this amelioration proves to be persistent in time, with or without continuing the medication, this treatment will represent the most evident and efficient present solution in neuropathy.