The Forgotten Complication

Despite affecting as many as 50% of all diabetic individuals, diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is the chronic complication that is often least addressed by health care providers. This is partly because of the experience many of us have shared of having little success with its treatment and because of a lack of awareness of available treatment strategies. Yet lack of knowledge is not an acceptable reason for failing to address this problem aggressively.

Although many serious chronic complications affect people with diabetes, foot complications are the greatest burden. As many as 40-60% of lower extremity amputations (LEAs) are related to DPN.¹ In the United States, more than 50,000 …