α-lipoic Acid for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy:A Clinical Study

Objective To discuss the improvement of treatment with α-lipoic acid(ALA)on patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy and the possible adverse reactions.Methods Seventy-two cases with type-2 diabetes mellitus and diabetic peripheral neuropathy(DPN)were selected,and divided into two groups randomly:the experimental group(36 cases),600mg α-lipoic acid into 250mL 0.9% sodium chloride injection,intravenous drop,qd,for 2 weeks;the control group(36 cases),1mg mecobalamin tablets into 10mL 0.9% sodium chloride injection,intravenous drop,qd,for 2 weeks.Evaluate the neurological symptom and changes of nerve conduction velocity of two groups before and 2 weeks after the treatment,record any adverse reaction and judge the correlation with the drugs.Results The motor nerve conduction velocity(MCV)and sensory nerve conduction velocity(SCV)of median nerve and common peroneal nerve of patients in the experimental group were significantly better than the ones before the treatment,with t values of 7.7548,7.9521,7.0794 and 6.9628 respectively by t test(P0.01);the ones in the control group were also enhanced after the treatment,with values of 5.3089,3.3756,3.0318 and 3.1963 respectively(P0.01).The effect of experimental group was better than the one of control group(P0.01),without any adverse reactions during the treatment.Conclusion α-lipoic acid can relieve the neurological symptom of patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy,with significant curative effect and good safety.