NEURO TOUCH: A novel digital device for assessment and screening of peripheral neuropathy

Most of the patients suffering from diabetes develop Sensory neuropathy which proceeds with development of painful neuropathy. This can lead to formation of ulcers in later stages. Currently, available Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) devices take more time to perform and are expensive.

NEURO TOUCH is such device which combines four parameters of QST in one unit. Its portable, battery operated and handy device with real time display of results along with data storage and data transfer facility. It has a monofilament, hot and cold probe with temperature sensors and a vibration perception threshold (VPT) measuring tip which can be operated using 4 buttons provided on the instrument. It can perform tactile sensation threshold, vibration and thermal testing threshold along with skin temperature measurement using Infra Red radiation (IR).

A study was undertaken by D. Riddhi et al. et al to establish the diagnostic validity, reproducibility and repeatability for early detection of peripheral neuropathy.

A total of 317 subjects were recruited for QST assessment with NEURO TOUCH; tactile threshold sensation, vibration perception and thermal threshold testing along with skin temperature. A subset of 30 subjects in each group was considered for repeatability and reproducibility test.

• The mean difference for vibration perception threshold was 0.6 when compared with gold standard device.

• Regarding the cold and warm perception threshold the mean difference was 1.1 and 2 ◦C respectively when compared with gold standard device.

• For skin temperature measures there was a mean difference of 1.2 ◦C with respect to standard device.

The authors concluded that - NEURO TOUCH device was easy-to-use, compact and provided an efficient multimodality approach which can help for screening of peripheral neuropathy patients with type 2 diabetes.

Further reading:

NEURO TOUCH: A novel digital device for assessment and screening of peripheral neuropathy

Riddhi Dasgupta, Felix Jebasingh, Nihal Thomas, KN Maruthyb, Sanjay Sharma, Bharathi Saravanan.

The Foot 51 (2022) 101888

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foot.2021.101888