[Morphology of the microcirculation in a case of perforating planter disease in a diabetic subject]

A clinical example of "diabetic foot" in a male subject with slight diabetes mellitus is described. Typical, serious impairment of the limb was accompanied by a relatively mild dysmetabolic picture. The arterial circulation was functionally and radiologically normal and there was no evidence of gross circulatory damage in other districts, whereas further examination, including biopsies, revealed typical diabetic microangiopathy. In the case of the foot, various concomitant factors, position being by no means the least important, were responsible for ischaemia and its self-maintenance. The poor prognosis and distinctly chronic course were at least partly attributable to early impairment of the microcirculation.