ORLANDO, FL -- November 8, 2007 -- A novel technology may be able to determine differences in the microvasculature of patients with diabetes, according to new research findings presented here at the American Heart Association (AHA) 2007 Scientific Sessions.
The technique, called Hyperspectral Technology cutaneous Oxygenation Monitoring (HTcOM) quantifies oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin in the form of pixels and is able to show microcirculatory patterns of tissue oxygenation. Previous studies indicate that HTcOM can differentiate between subjects with or without diabetes as well as low-risk diabetics and high-risk diabetics.
The current study evaluated the use of HTcOM to determine systemic microcirculatory changes to define patients who might be at increased risk of diabetic complications.
Patients from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) study -- following type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients with foot ulcers or at high risk for foot ulceration -- were used in the analysis.
The HTcOM measurements were made on the volar forearm, palm, and foot dorsum. Interim data from 162 patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes were analyzed, and subjects with ulcers (n = 62) were compared to those without ulcers (n = 100).
HTcOM was able to detect patients with poorer systemic microcirculation, as indicated by lower HTcOM readings on the forearm, and these patients were significantly more likely to have foot ulcers -- or develop them -- than other subjects also considered at high risk by standard clinical assessment.
The authors conclude that HTcOM "provides, for the first time, the possibility to perform a non-invasive assessment of the severity of systemic microvascular disease associated with diabetes progression."
"This is an exciting technique," noted senior investigator Aristidis Veves, MD, Research Director, Joslin-Beth Israel Deaconess Foot Center and Microcirculation Lab, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. "Our studies indicate that it has the potential not only to predict foot ulceration but also wound healing," He also said that the technique may prove useful for non-diabetic patients with peripheral arterial disease.
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