Nerve conduction studies in peripheral arterial disease With and without type 2 diabetes mellitus

This article aims at assessing the involvement of the peripheral nervous system for patients with ischemic pathology of the lower limbs. We studied relationships between the ankle brachial index and peripheral nerve function among 60 male patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The ankle brachial index was measured using a handheld Doppler probe. Nerve function was measured in the motor fibres of the peroneal and tibial nerves and the sensitive fibres of sural nerve. Our study has shown in patients with peripheral arterial disease without diabetes mellitus (DM) an axonal degeneration, resulting in axonal polyneuropathy. In patients with PAD and type 2 diabetes mellitus the demyelination signs were predominant. The secondary impairment of peripheral nerves in PAD is frequently encountered in current clinical practice. The data resulted from our study highlight the fact that PAD cause nerve damage, mainly affected being the patients with PAD and DM.