Antihypoxic treatment at an early stage of diabetic neuropathy: an electrophysiological study with sabeluzole.

Thirty-seven non-IDDM patients at an early stage of polyneuropathy, defined as the presence of symptoms for less than two years, as well as an abnormal perception threshold and/or abnormal thermal discrimination threshold, were treated with sabeluzole, a new antihypoxic drug, or placebo for 1 year in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. They were examined neurophysiologically every 3 months, when motor (tibial, ulnar) nerve and sensory (sural, ulnar) nerve conduction velocities, H-reflex of the soleus muscle, SF-EMG of the anterior tibial muscle, static and dynamic pupillometry were measured. Statistical analysis did not show significant differences in nerve function between the sabeluzole group and the placebo group. There were also no significant changes within each group over the 1-year period. The results of the present study show no beneficial effect of sabeluzole on peripheral nerve function in patients at an early stage of diabetic polyneuropathy.