Corneal confocal microscopy for the diagnosis of diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy in people with type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (diagnostic). The objectives are as follows:

To determine the diagnostic accuracy of CCM to measure corneal nerve fibre length for diagnosing DSPN.

Secondary objectives

We will investigate potential sources of variation on the diagnostic accuracy of CCM due to between-study heterogeneity, as listed below.

  • To compare different types of equipment used to capture sub-basal plexus images.

  • To compare manual and automated image analysis methodologies.

  • If data are available, to compare the different reference standard requirements of nerve conduction studies and intraepidermal nerve fibre density.

  • To investigate the effects of disease severity, including mild, moderate and severe DSPN.

This is a protocol.