Abstract: Objective To study the early diagnostic value of F-wave for diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Methods A total of 211 patients with type 2 diabetes who were admitted to hospital from January to October, 2018 were selected. The nerve conduction studies (NCS) of lower limbs and the minimum latency of F-wave in tibial nerve were measured. The height corrected reference of F-wave was used to judge the abnormality of F-wave. According to the clinical symptoms and signs, they were divided into symptomatic group (n = 126) and asymptomatic group (n = 85). According to the duration of diabetes, they were divided into three groups: less than one year group (n = 45), one to ten years group (n = 85) and more than ten years group (n = 81). The abnormal rates of motor nerve conduction studies (MNCS), sensory nerve conduction studies (SNCS), NCS and F-wave minimum latency in different groups were compared. Results The abnormal rate of F-wave was higher than that of MNCS, SNCS and NCS in lower limbs in the symptomatic group (χ² > 7.088, P < 0.01). The abnormal rate of F-wave in the asymptomatic group was prominently higher than that of MNCS, SNCS and NCS (χ² > 7.545, P < 0.01). The abnormal rate of F-wave in each course was higher than that of MNCS, SNCS and NCS (P < 0.05). Conclusion The abnormal of F-wave minimum latency is more senstive than that of MNCS, SNCS and NCS, which suggested subclinical lesions, and is valuable for the early diagnosis of DPN.

Key words: F-wave, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, diabetes mellitus