title: Corneal confocal microscopy: Recent progress in the evaluation of diabetic neuropathy.
abstract: The present brief review discusses recent progress with corneal confocal microscopy for the evaluation of diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy. Corneal confocal microscopy is a new, non-invasive and reproducible diagnostic modality, and it can also be easily applied for patient follow up. It enables new perspectives of studying the natural history of diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy, severity of nerve fiber pathology and documenting early nerve fiber regeneration after therapeutic intervention. It shows moderate to high sensitivity and specificity for the timely diagnosis of diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy. Currently, corneal confocal microscopy is mainly used in specialized centers, but deserves more widespread application for the assessment of diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy. Finally, further progress is required in terms of technical improvements for automated nerve fiber quantification and for analysis of larger images.
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Clinic, Second Department of Internal Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace Alexandroupolis, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papanas
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical Diabetology, German Diabetes Center at Heinrich Heine University, Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research Düsseldorf, Germany ; Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ziegler
keywords: Corneal confocal microscopy; Diabetic polyneuropathy; Small fibers