Transcutaneous oxygen pressure measurements in type I diabetic patients for early detection of functional diabetic...

Seventy-six type I diabetic patients free of peripheral artery disease and 82 age-matched healthy volunteers were studied by means of transcutaneous oxygen pressure measurements. Two transcutaneous probes were attached to the skin at the subclavian region and at the supramalleolar region. Basal transcutaneous oxygen pressure values and values during breathing of 5 and 10 1 O2 min-1, the rate of rise of oxygen pressure and the time required from the beginning of the oxygen pressure increase to the achievement of its maximum were recorded, and a regional perfusion index was calculated. Nearly all the measured transcutaneous oxygen parameters showed significant differences between diabetic and control subjects. The differences were most pronounced with the transcutaneous oxygen pressure values during oxygen breathing. Even patients with a diabetes duration of less than 1 year and free of any detectable microangiopathic complication, differed significantly from control subjects. These findings may indicate a microcirculatory disturbance in diabetic patients, which might be considered as the manifestation of a functional diabetic microangiopathy preceding any morphological alterations of the vasculature in diabetes mellitus.