[Gastrointestinal complications of diabetes mellitus]

The gastrointestinal complications of diabetes mellitus are the outward forms of the diabetic visceral neuropathy. The diabetic damage of the vagus nerve leads to disturbances of the tonus and the motility resembling to postvagotomy like conditions in the following clinical forms: diabetic dysphagia, diabetic gastroparesis, diabetic diarrhoea, diabetic megacolon, diabetic cholecystomegaly. These are in general late complications of labile diabetes. The mild abdominal symptoms are not in proportion to the severe radiological changes, proper diagnosis may be obtained only by means of roentgenological examinations in most cases.