Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is currently the most frequently observed chronic complication of
diabetes mellitus (DM) and, at the same time, the most underdiagnosed, affecting up to half of
these patients, depending on the diagnostic methodology used. It generally affects individuals
with a long duration of the disease (>10 years), however, it may be present at diagnosis in
patients with DM2 or manifest early, within the first five years of the disease, in patients with
DM1. Additionally, once diagnosed, DN is usually irreversible, but its appropriate management
in patients with early diagnosis increases the possibility of regression and stabilization of the
disease, considerably delaying and preventing the onset of complications. The objective of this
work was to create a protocol for diagnosing and treating diabetic neuropathy in an objective
and didactic manner, with a focus on helping general practitioners and specialists, both in
primary and tertiary care. The protocol was prepared using the integrative literature review
method, which was divided into 6 phases. The first phase consisted of preparing the guiding
question to define the studies to be included and then an integrative review was carried out in
the PUBMED and SciElo databases with the terms “NEUROPATHY”, “TREATMENT”,
“DIAGNOSIS”, “NEUROPATHY DIABETIC” and its counterparts in Portuguese. Guidelines
from the main national and international diabetes scientific societies, one book and relevant
information from relevant websites were also included. After data collection and analysis, 106
materials were used as theoretical references for the preparation of this protocol. This resulted
in the construction of didactic and objective tables, charts and flowcharts. The clinical
applicability of the study consists of providing a tool, not only for the specialist, but for the
general practitioner at different levels of health care, with the aim of enabling effective care for
individuals with DN. Thus, the main contributions of the protocol were the development of a
total of 20 didactic and visual tools aimed at the prevention, tracking, diagnosis and treatment
of DN. 5 flowcharts, 4 charts and 2 tables are authored by the author.
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