[State of microcirculation in patients with atherosclerosis and diabetes mellitus after limb revascularization].

AIM

The study was aimed at comparatively assessing the dynamics of the parameters of the microcirculatory bed of the skin after endovascular revascularization of the lower limb in patients suffering from intermittent claudication (IC) with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Microcirculation (MC) of the skin of lower extremities was examined in 88 male patients presenting with IC and without DM (Group One) and in 28 male patients with IC and DM (Group Two). 30 patients from Group One and 21 patients from Group Two were subjected to endovascular revascularization of lower limbs. MC was examined on the 2nd day after restoration of blood flow in the extremity by means of laser Doppler flowmetry with the assessment of the amplitude parameters of blood flow fluctuations, reflecting active and passive mechanisms of regulation of microcirculation, the intensity of blood flow through the arteriole-venule shunts and the nutritive blood flow.

RESULTS

At baseline, the main parameters of MC had no differences in the groups and were characterized by intensification of the blood shunted bypassing the nutritive bed, venous plethora, constriction of precapillaries and restriction of capillary blood flow. After endovascular angioplasty of the affected artery and restoration of blood flow therein the patients of the examined subgroups demonstrated an equal increase in the ankle-brachial index, thus approaching the normal values; the patients of both subgroups reported disappearance of pain in the legs during usual daily activities. In patients without DM, endovascular intervention was accompanied by a decrease in the intensity of the arteriole-venule shunts, venous plethora, and enhancement of capillary blood flow. The patients with DM at the early stage after restoration of blood flow in the limb were found to have no statistically significant shifts of the functional parameters of the microvascular bed.

CONCLUSION

From the point of view of microcirculatory transformations in patients with IC and DM, the effect of limb revascularization at early stages of follow-up turned out to be incomplete, which, probably, was due to irremovable events of latent diabetic microangiopathy and neuropathy.