Instructions for use - The Analogue Pinprick Comprison Test (APC) The Analogue Pinprick Comparison Test employs a simple verbal analogue scale for rapid relative quantification of subtle neural deficit permitting EARLIER DIAGNOSIS compared with large fibre assessment

1. BREAK TAB TO EXPOSE POINT - AVOID CONTACT WITH FINGERS.
2. GRASP DEVICE BETWEEN THUMB AND INDEX FINGER LIGHTLY ENOUGH TO PERMIT SLIGHT AXIAL SLIPPAGE IF REQUIRED - UTILIZE TEXTURED SURFACE TO FACILITATE CONTROL.
3. APPLY TO SKIN AT A PERPENDICULAR TO STANDARDIZE POINT PRESSURE FOR IMPROVED TEST CONSISTENCY and OPTIMIZE ANNULAR CONTACT TO GENERATE A ‘CENTRE SURROUND’ FIELD OF ENHANCED ACUITY.
4. ESTABLISH A BASELINE SENSE OF PINPRICK in an UNAFFECTED CONTROL’ AREA SUCH as the PALMAR WRIST by MAKING SEVERAL QUICK APPLICATIONS AROUND the SAME LOCALITY. PRESS FIRMLY BUT CAREFULLY USING A REPETITIVE, PERCUSSIVE CONTACT. AVOID HIGH AMPLITUDE or ‘STABBING’ ACTIONS - PENETRATION IS CHECKED BY the ANNULUS BUT NEVER ASSUMED ‘IMPOSSIBLE’. INSTRUCT YOUR PATIENT THIS ‘NORMAL’ AREA REPRESENTS A SCORE OF “5” OUT OF 10.
5. QUANTIFY SUBTLE DEFICIT on this VERBAL ANALOGUE SCALE by IMMEDIATELY COMPARING A SYMMETRICAL, ADJACENT or NEUROLOGICALLY COMPATIBLE REGION, ASKING YOUR PATIENT to GRADE the SENSATION THEY PERCEIVE OUT OF “10”.
6. TO PREVENT RE-USE CROSS-INFECTION RISK DESTROY POINT BY COMPRESSION AGAINST A HARD SURFACE and/or DISPOSE OF IN A BIOHAZARD CONTAINER. ALWAYS OBSERVE SHARP’S POLICY

Clinical Evidence -

Clinical studies have already confirmed Medipin’s efficacy and another clinical study is underway.
Stacey Fisher, Hannah Gray, Nicci Kelsall, Donna Lowes, Leon Jonker, Pin-prick (Medipin) assessment for neuropathy in diabetes: Prospective screening study in primary care, Primary Care Diabetes, Volume 18, Issue 6, 2024, Pages 612-617, ISSN 1751-9918, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcd.2024.10.003