Medipin Neurological Examination/ Sensory Testing Diagnostic Tool | Single use

Features & Benefits:

• Enhanced test sensitivity at lower application pressure

Medipin’s protected point is designed to significantly enhance pinprick acuity by creating a neural Centre Surround field effect without actually being sharp.

• Enhanced Safety

Enhanced acuity facilitates lower application pressure to achieve useful stimulation and reduce risk of damaging delicate skin.

• Infection Control

The protective annulus inhibits depth of penetration and protects against injury so is safe to use.

• Disposability

Made entirely of hard plastic. The plastic point is easily neutralised by compression against a hard surface.

• Ease of Use

Designed to promote safe and proficient handling.

The standard to be judged by for safer diagnosis, offering accuracy, security and convenience. This is a Medical device Class I Set of Visual Instructions included in the pack

Clinical Evidence

Screening for (small fibre) symptoms and signs of diabetic neuropathy is also critical in clinical practice, as it may detect the earliest stages of neuropathy, enabling early intervention (ADA 2017)

Do The Right Test.

Cutaneous pinprick sensation is the most sensitive modality for detecting early sensory deficit due to small fibre loss[1] and Medipin has been designed to exploit this phenomenon as a precision instrument that is best employed where the patient becomes their own control.

A repetitious technique utilising comparison of multiple applications between symmetrical regions, where one of them represents the initial ‘control’ site, allows the subject to appreciate and express subtle, quantitative distinctions of sensory loss on an arbitrary scale rather than only the crude all or nothing option permitted by sharp/blunt testing.

[1] Pop-Busui et al 2017; Diabetic Neuropathy: A Position Statement by the American Diabetes Association; Diabetes Care 2017; 40:136–154 | DOI: 10.2337/dc16-2042

Do The Test Right.

Even with the most sensitive of instruments subject idiosyncrasy dictates that there still needs to be an appropriate application technique to achieve the necessary specificity. The considerable variation in perception from day to day in the same patient - let alone between different members of the population - stipulates using the patient as their own control.

Therefore attempting to impose a standardized level of stimulation across the population, even with a device that imparts a predictable level of force, simply won’t work[2]. It is critical to give the patient an average or normal sense of stimulation particular to them. Not only are receptors distributed randomly throughout the skin but everyone feels stimuli differently as well as there being considerable variation in application technique between clinicians.

This is easily achieved using continuous applications to generate so called wind up or summation, which reduces standard deviation in reception, whilst providing an opportunity to recognise subtle sensory distinctions between regions of the body.

[2] A.T. Shirgaonkar, M. Purva, I.F. Russell; A double blind comparison of the variability of block levels assessed using a hand help Neurotip™ or a Neuropen® at elective caesarean section under spinal anaesthesia. International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia (2010) 19, 61–66.

Use the right instrument: Use Medipin.

Medipin represents a unique, dedicated single-use precision technology designed to enhance the diagnosis of cutaneous sensory loss. The instrument consists of a short, faceted point, acutely delineated by its surfaces and edges and inclined to stretch rather than penetrate the skin surface, within a protective annulus that encircles the point with a perimeter of dull stimulation.

Stretching the skin whilst contrasting the sharp stimulus of this highly demarcated point with that of the annulus, emphasize the neurological phenomenon of Lateral Inhibition where functional central nervous system connections are formed to highlight contrasting differences between areas of sensation. Each application generates a focussed and well-defined Centre Surround field effect to augment pinprick perception. Continuously compare between the established normal for the patient and the symmetrical area or side to be scrutinised to create a subtle picture of quantitative deficit as opposed to a crude present or not option