[Diabetic microangiopathy].

On the whole, diabetic microangiopathy can be understood as the clinical renal-retinal syndrome. About 10% of all diabetics die of end-stage renal failure, more frequent in IDDM. With an incidence of 14% diabetic retinopathy is one of the major causes of blindness in adulthood. In the non-proliferative state, the pathological changes are limited to the retina, whereas the alterations affect both retina and vitreous in the proliferative state. Photocoagulation is the treatment of choice. If photocoagulatory treatment is not possible because of cataract, vitreous surgery (pars-plana vitrectomy) could improve visual prognosis. The clinical features hypertension, proteinuria and finally renal failure define the term "diabetic nephropathy". The increased intraglomerular pressure is the main pathological alteration of incipient nephropathy. Microalbuminuria essentially determines the prognosis: in IDDM it concerns the incidence of a manifest nephropathy, in NIDDM the excessively increased incidence of cardiovascular mortality. Sonographically, the kidneys are large with bright and wide parenchyma. Along with the development of end-stage renal disease the kidney size diminishes. According to Mogensen, nephropathy is divided into five stages: Stage 1, the early stage, is defined by hypertrophy and hyperfiltration. Stage 2 shows incipient structural changes without any clinical findings. Stage 3 is characterised by persistent microalbuminuria. Stage 4 leads to increasing renal failure and stage 5 to end-stage renal disease and the necessity of dialysis treatment. Incipient nephropathy demands a strict treatment of both hypertension and diabetes. In the meantime, ACE inhibitors are the treatment of choice. In case of dialysis treatment continuous ambulant peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) is usually preferred.