Abstract: Objective To explore the value of shear wave elastography (SWE) for diagnosis of sural neuropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods From September to December, 2017, 119 patients with T2DM were divided into diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) group (n = 61) and non-DPN group (n = 58) according to the diagnosic criteria. In the same period, other 60 healthy volunteers were also recruited as normal group. They were measured the thickness, width, circumference and cross-sectional area of sural nerve, as well as the Young's modulus and shear wave velocity (SWV) with SWE. Based on the results of electrophysiology, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to determine the cut-off of the Young's modulus and SWV to differentiate DPN from non-DPN, and their area under the curve was compared. Results The thickness of sural nerve was more in DPN group than in the normal group (P < 0.05). There were significant differences among all the groups in width, cross-sectional area, circumference, Young's modulus and SWV of sural nerves (P < 0.05). For SWE image, it was yellow-green for DPN group, dark blue for non-DPN group, and uniform light blue for the normal group. The cut-off was 51.65 kPa for Young's modulus, with the area under the curve of 0.925, sensitivity of 86.9% and specificity of 89.7%; while it was 4.15 m/s for SWV, with the area under curve of 0.923, specificity of 89.7% and sensitivity of 85.2%. The diagnostic efficiency for DPN was similar between Young's modulus and SWV (Z = 0.556, P = 0.579). Conclusion SWE can provide useful information for clinical diagnosis of sural neuropathy after T2DM.

Key words: type 2 diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, sural nerve, shear wave elastography