A longitudinal study of multimodal evoked potentials in diabetes mellitus.
Abnormal findings in visual (VEP), brainstem auditory (BAEP) and somatosensory (SEP) evoked potentials at early stages of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes have recently been reported by our group. Our aim here was to perform a longitudinal study in diabetic patients at an early stage of the disease using a combined evoked potential analysis in order to evaluate the variation of neurological abnormalities over time. Nine Type 1 and 12 Type 2 diabetic patients were examined and a second recording was carried out after a mean interval of 15.7 months +/- 6.2 SD. VEP, BAEP and SEP were measured in all patients. At the first recording electrophysiological abnormalities, present in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes were more evident when a multimodal evaluation was used (44.4% and 66.7% respectively). The follow-up study showed that overall neurological abnormalities persisted in all those patients who had previously presented pathological values. Whereas the number of patients with pathological values remained unmodified, a tendency to progression, namely the number of nervous levels with electrophysiological abnormalities, was observed. Thus, our study confirms the appearance of anatomofunctional disorders in the central nervous system in short-term diabetes, shows the persistence of neurological impairment in such patients and reveals a progressive segmental involvement at different nervous levels.
Istituto di Clinica delle Malattie Nervose e Mentali, University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
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G
Pozzessere
P A
PA
Rizzo
E
E
Valle
M A
MA
Mollica
L
L
Sanarelli
S
S
Morano
P
P
Pietravalle
U
U
Di Mario
C
C
Morocutti
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008475:Median Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology; D010775:Photic Stimulation