The distributions of sensory abnormalities in 17 episodes of diabetic truncal neuropathy among 7 patients with diabetes mellitus are described. The patterns are highly variable: the distribution of adjacent main spinal nerves may be involved, resulting in a complete dermatomal band of dysesthesia, but almost two-thirds of the episodes were restricted to the distribution of the ventral or dorsal rami of the spinal nerves or branches of these rami or varying combinations of these distributions.