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A Brief Review on the Novel Therapies for Painful Diabetic Neuropathy

  • Neuropathic Pain (A Abd-Elsayed, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Almost half of people diagnosed with diabetes mellitus will develop painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN), a condition greatly impacting quality of life with complicated pathology. While there are different FDA approved forms of treatment, many of the existing options are difficult to manage with comorbities and are associated with unwanted side effects. Here, we summarize the current and novel treatments for PDN.

Recent Findings

Current research is exploring alternative pain management treatments from the first line options of pregabalin, gabapentin, duloxetine, and amitriptyline which often have side effects. The use of FDA approved capsaicin and spinal cord stimulators (SCS) has been incredibly beneficial in addressing this. In addition, new treatments looking at different targets, such as NMDA receptor and the endocannabinoid system, show promising results.

Summary

There are several treatment options that have been shown to be successful in helping treat PDN, but often require adjunct treatment or alterations due to side effects. While there is ample research for standard medications, treatments such as palmitoylethanolamide and endocannabinoid targets have extremely limited clinical trials. We also found that many studies did not evaluate additional variables other than pain relief, such as functional changes nor were there consistent measurement methods. Future research should continue trials comparing treatment efficacies along with more quality of life measures.

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Data Availability

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

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  1. Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Jade I. Basem, Fatoumata N. Bah & Neel D. Mehta

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  1. Jade I. Basem
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Correspondence to Jade I. Basem.

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Dr. Neel Mehta has been a consultant to Averitas, and Nevro. He has sponsored research with Nevro in the area of diabetic neuropathy.

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Basem, J.I., Bah, F.N. & Mehta, N.D. A Brief Review on the Novel Therapies for Painful Diabetic Neuropathy. Curr Pain Headache Rep 27, 299–305 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-023-01126-1

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