Summary. New techniques of sural nerve photography and fluorescein angiography which are able to provide an index of nerve blood flow have been developed. Under local anaesthetic, 3 cm of sural nerve was exposed at the ankle using an operating microscope. Without disturbing the epineurium, vessels were identified and photographed at a standard magnification ( x 30). These were independently graded by an ophthalmologist not otherwise involved with the study. Fluorescein angiography was then carried out on the exposed nerve. The fluorescein appearance time and intensity of fluorescence were quantified, using computer analysis of digitised images. Thirteen subjects with chronic sensory motor neuropathy, five non-neuropathic diabetic and nine normal control subjects were studied. The mean epineurial vessel pathology score of the neuropathic group was significantly higher than the combined normal control and non-neuropathic diabetic groups (p < 0.01). Direct epineurial arteriovenous shunting was observed in six neuropathic and one non-neuropathic diabetic patients and not in any of the normal control subjects. The nerve fluorescein appearance time was significantly delayed in subjects with chronic sensory motor neuropathy (51.5 + 12 s) compared to both normal (34.7 _+ 9 s, p < 0.01) and non-neuropathic diabetic subjects (33.4 + 11 s,p < 0.025). The mean intensity of fluorescence at 96, 252 and 576 s, was significantly lower in subjects with chronic sensory motor neuropathy compared with both of the other groups (p < 0.05). The epineurial vessel pathology score was significantly related to reduced sural (p < 0.01) and peroneal (p < 0.001) nerve conduction velocities, elevated vibration (p < 0.01) and thermal (p < 0.001) perception and the severity of retinopathy (p < 0.002). The fluorescein appearance time was significantly related to reduced sural sensory (p <0.02) conduction velocity, elevated vibration (p < 0.01) perception and epineurial vessel (p < 0.002) pathology score, but it failed to relate to peroneal motor (p = 0.06) conduction velocity, thermal (p = 0.1) perception and the severity ofretinopathy (p = 0.3). Intensity of fluorescence was significantly related to fluorescein appearance time (at 96 s,p < 0.001; at 576 s,p < 0.05) but did not relate to measures of neuropathic severity. These techniques have enabled us to observe that epineurial vessel anatomy is abnormal and that nerve blood flow is impaired in subjects with chronic sensory motor neuropathy. In addition epineurial arterio-venous shunting may be a feature of diabetic neuropathy. These techniques may further be applied to study nerve blood flow in early diabetic neuropathy.
Aims/hypothesis. Experimental hypoglycaemia leads to abnormal cardiac repolarization manifest by a lengthened QT interval and caused by adrenergic stimulation. However it is less clear whether spontaneous clinical episodes lead to similar changes. We have therefore measured cardiac ventricular repolarization and counterregulatory responses in patients with Type 1 diabetes during hypoglycaemic and euglycaemic nights. Methods. We studied 22 patients with Type 1 diabetes (mean age 40.4±17.2 years, duration of diabetes 17.2±9.3 years, HbA1c 8.2±1.2% overnight). Measurements were taken hourly of blood glucose, plasma potassium, catecholamines and high resolution electrocardiograms. Results. Hypoglycaemia (blood glucose level <2.5 mmol/l) occurred on 7 of the 22 nights. During overnight hypoglycaemia, QTc interval increased by 27 ms (±15) above baseline, compared with 9 ms (±19) during nights with no nocturnal hypoglycaemia (p=0.034, 95%CI 2, 35). Adrenaline increased by 0.33 nmol/l (±0.21) above baseline during hypoglycaemia, compared with −0.05 nmol/l (±0.08) during euglycaemia (p=0.001, 95%CI 0.19, 0.56 nmol/l). There was no significant difference between potassium, and noradrenaline concentrations between the two groups. Conclusion/interpretation. QTc interval lengthens significantly during spontaneous nocturnal hypoglycaemia. Increases are generally less than those observed during experimental hypoglycaemia and could reflect attenuated sympathoadrenal responses during clinical episodes. The clinical relevance of these changes is uncertain but is consistent with the hypothesis that clinical hypoglycaemia can cause abnormal cardiac repolarization and an attendant risk of cardiac arrhythmia. [Diabetologia (2004) 47:312-315]
Aims/hypothesis. It has been postulated that hypoglycaemia-related cardiac dysrhythmia and, in particular, prolonged cardiac repolarisation, may contribute to increased mortality rates in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Methods. We examined the prevalence of prolonged QT interval on ECG during spontaneous hypoglycaemia in 44 type 1 diabetic subjects (aged 7-18 years), and explored the relationships between serial overnight measurements of QT interval corrected for heart rate (QTc) and serum glucose, potassium and epinephrine levels. Each subject underwent two overnight profiles; blood was sampled every 15 min for glucose measurements and hourly for potassium and epinephrine. Serial ECGs recorded half-hourly between 23.00 and 07.00 hours were available on 74 nights: 29 with spontaneous hypoglycaemia (defined as blood glucose <3.5 mmol/l) and 45 without hypoglycaemia.Results. Mean overnight QTc was longer in females than in males (412 vs 400 ms, p=0.02), but was not related to age, diabetes duration or HbA 1 c. Prolonged QTc (>440 ms) occurred on 20 out of 74 (27%) nights, with no significant differences between male and female subjects, and was more prevalent on nights with hypoglycaemia (13/29, 44%) than on nights without (7/45, 15%, p=0.0008). Potassium levels were lower on nights when hypoglycaemia occurred (minimum potassium 3.4 vs 3.7 mmol/l, p=0.0003) and were inversely correlated with maximum QTc (r=−0.40, p=0.03). In contrast, epinephrine levels were not higher on nights with hypoglycaemia and were not related to QTc. Conclusions/interpretation. In young type 1 diabetic subjects, prolonged QTc occurred frequently with spontaneous overnight hypoglycaemia and may be related to insulin-induced hypokalaemia.
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