Evaluation of the clinical value of shear wave elastography for early detection and diagnosis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a controlled preliminary prospective clinical study

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the clinical application value of shear wave elastography (SWE) technique for early diagnosis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Methods: Diabetic patients hospitalized in the Department of Endocrinology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from August 2021 to February 2022 were enrolled as DPN group (n=38) and non-DPN group (n=35) based on the neurophysiological examination results. 30 healthy subjects were recruited as the control group during the same period. Ultrasound examination of the tibial nerve and related laboratory tests were examined and collected for the total 103 study subjects. Statistical analysis of the collected data, and the receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve for determination of the optimal cut-off values of mean stiffness of tibial nerve to detect DPN, with determination of area under curve (AUC), specificity, sensitivity, and Youden index.P value < 0.05 is considered statistically significant. Results: Gender, age and BMI differences among three groups were insignificant (P > 0.05). The difference of serological indicators between DPN and non-DPN groups was also not found (P > 0.05), whereas longer duration of diabetes was observed in DPN group as compared to non-DPN group. As to the ultra-sound relevant parameters, the cross-sectional area and elastic modulus of the tibial nerve in both lower extremities among these three groups were not significantly different (Oneway ANOVA analysis) although the differences were indeed observed if we compared DPN group exclusively with non-DPN group, or compared non-DPN group with healthy group, or compared DPN group with healthy group (t test). Additionally, the mean elasticity (Emean) cut-off value for the diagnosis of DPN was preferably taken as 67.55 kPa. Conclusion: SWE has unique advantages in early detection and diagnosis of DPN, which deserve further research.