[Determination of capillary lesions during diagnosis by means of the tourniquet test of microangiopathies in diabetes mellitus].

Decreased capillary resistance is documented by a pathologic tourniquet test (Rumpel-Leede), which demonstrates the existance of microangiopathy in diabetics. Thanks to its simple and rapid execution the tourniquet test is suitable for early diagnostic assessment of the situation in the microcirculation. The longer the patients have had diabetes, the more frequently is the tourniquet test pathological. There is also a direct correlation between the type of therapy (as an index of the severity of the disease) and the accumulation of pathologic results in measurement of capillary resistance. In diabetics with hypertension, capillary resistance is always decreased to a pathologic degree.