Diabetes: the use of color Doppler sonography for the assessment of vascular complications.

The use of color Doppler sonography (CDS) in the assessment of diabetic vascular complications is not yet well established. Among the complications of the disease, retinopathy, nephropathy and peripheral arteriopathy are classically due to a vascular attack, either a micro or a macroangiopathy. The results of CDS in the assessment of retinopathy and nephropathy are correlated with the degree of the disease and the biological findings, but the diagnostic and prognostic benefit of these results remains unclear compared to the conventional tests. Doppler sonography is more helpful in peripheral arteriopathy assessment; it may take the place of arteriography in the most clinical situations. The technique is particularly useful in case of proximal atheromatous-like arteriopathy. When the arteriopathy is distal, mediacalcinosis, specific to diabetes, may interfere with the functional test like the ankle/arm pressure index measurement.