Treatment of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy with Lipoic Acid

Objective To investigate the efficacy of lipoic acid(ALA) in the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy(DPN).Methods A total of 119 patients with DPN were randomly divided into treatment group(n=60) and control group(n=59).The treatment group received 10-day course of intravenous infusion of ALA(300 mg in 250 mL 0.9% normal saline,closed-ray,finish within 1 hour,once daily).The control group were treated with 15-day course of intramuscular injection of vitamin B1(100 mg) and vitamin B12(500 μg) once daily.The efficacy and improvement in nerve conduction velocity following treatment were compared between the two groups.Results The effective rate in treatment group was significantly higher than that in control group(88.3% vs 39.0%,P0.05).ALA resulted in an obvious improvement in median nerve and peroneal nerve motor conduction velocity and sensory nerve conduction velocity,and the improvement in treatment group was better than that in control group(P0.05 or P0.01).Conclusion ALA is effective in the treatment of DPN and does not lead to obvious adverse reactions.