21 September 2018 

The Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN) Dinner Symposium was held on 11 August 2018 at Le Méridien Kuala Lumpur. The prime aim of this event was to educate healthcare professionals on the importance of early diagnosis and strategies to effectively manage DPN in the clinical setting. This event was endorsed by the Malaysian Endocrine & Metabolic Society (MEMS) and supported by Pfizer Malaysia, in line with Pfizer’s Blue Socks campaign.


Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common yet serious complication of diabetes, which manifests in the feet prior to spreading to other parts of the body.1 A good majority of diabetes patients with DPN suffer from painful DPN with symptoms such as, burning, pins and needles, tingling, numbness, allodynia or hyperalgesia.1 Because the symptoms of painful DPN are not unanimously associated with the common perception of ‘pain’, these symptoms are often under-recognized, leaving patients underdiagnosed and undertreated for years.2


The DPN Dinner Symposium was chaired by the President of MEMS, Dr Zanariah Hussein, who also delivered a talk on the importance of optimizing management of DPN and strategies towards effectively managing DPN in the clinical setting. Another key opinion leader in the field of diabetes, Prof Dato’ Dr Mafauzy Mohamed, gave a talk highlighting the disease burden of DPN and the importance of arriving at an early diagnosis of DPN to ensure the quality of life of patients. Both talks during the DPN Dinner Symposium were tailored to include key literature on the disease area, interesting case studies, as well as interactive sessions with the delegates. This event also discussed and emphasized on the role of healthcare professionals in educating and improving awareness of DPN among patients. In line with this, the delegates present also discussed and provided their expert opinion on the type and scope of content which would be most appropriate for educational materials aimed at disseminating DPN awareness among patients and the public at large.


Overall, the DPN Dinner Symposium was a fruitful event which saw the exchange of insights by endocrinologists, endocrinology fellows and general practitioners with an interest in DPN management, towards improving awareness and best practices in the assessment and management of DPN in the clinical setting.

References:1. Juster-Switlyk K, et al. F1000Research 2016;5(F1000 Faculty Rev):738.2. Ebata-Kogure N, et al. PLoS One 2017;12(10):e0187250. Please download the full report below…

DPN Dinner Symposium_Write-up.pdf (English – pdf – 235 Kb)