[Macro- and microcirculation study in diabetic patients].

In diabetics, vascular examination may consider great and medium arteries and microcirculation. The aim of this study is correlation between stenosis in carotid and femoral bifurcation, ultrasound biopsy, and laser-Doppler measurements of distal microcirculation in diabetics. During a six month period, we have examined 90 diabetics in the diabetological service of the Civita Castellana Hospital (Viterbo, Italy), asymptomatic for any vascular distal, cerebral or coronary disease. Subjects were 49 +/- 20 years old with 15 +/- 5 years of diabetes; glycosilate haemoglobin was 7% (mean). 70% of diabetics (62% type I, 38% type II) had an altered veno-arteriolar reflex and 30% of these an ultrasound biopsy value of more than 25. These data demonstrate that most diabetic subjects develop an early, preclinical neuropathy that is directly proportional to the arterial wall condition.