Peripheral Neuropathy Assessment of Diabetic ...

Peripheral Neuropathy Assessment of Diabetic Patients using Perception of Vibration Mechanism

Author Name : Darshana Dineshkumar Darji, Vijay Dave, Dr. Yash Patel

Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy is a long-term complication of diabetes. The nerves that reach to the arms, hands, legs, and feet become damage due to high glucose level over a long period of time. Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy raises the risk of foot ulcers and amputation. About 60% to 70% over entire humans will ultimately generate Peripheral Neuropathy. Our mechanism will useful for early diagnosis of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy and prevention of foot ulcers. We propose a mechanism which will provides vibration to the patients with diabetes and according to patient’s sensation, peripheral neuropathy  level can be detected. 

The present study proposes for the non-invasive screening of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy, a new assessable vibration sensation measurement mechanism is developed by representing tactile platform using vibration motors. Two tips are settled in a tactile platform. The tips are arranged in an array and tactile stimuli are generated. Patient places index finger on the tips in a such a way, so that two tips covers by the first joint of index finger. The Variable amplitude and standard 128 Hz frequency generated to drive vibration motors. Tactile stimuli are generated up to 15 seconds from higher amplitude to lower amplitude to detect level of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy. The tactile stimuli are presented with the help of the start button and ask to patient to report when perceive vibration fade out. When patient indicate vibrations have faded than push the stop button and Elapsed time in seconds will display on display screen to determine the level of neuropathy. On the basis of time, Level of neuropathy can be determined. 

With the help of the 54 diabetic subjects together with the 8 normal subjects, assessment of Diabetic peripheral Neuropathy was conducted and the validity of the mechanism was verified.  From the result, we conclude that patient with diabetes from more than 5 years have higher risk of Moderate or severe sensation loss. Patient with diabetes from less than 5 years have mild sensation loss or normal. As the duration of Diabetes increased, then patient have higher risk of developing Peripheral Neuropathy.

Keywords: Vibration Motor, Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy, Tactile Platform, Tips, Level of Neuropathy