title: Scintigraphic oesophageal clearance in diabetics: clinical usefulness.
abstract: The whole digestive tract is one of the sites most involved in diabetic autonomic neuropathy. The aim of this work was to validate the clinical usefulness of oesophageal scintigraphy in the early detection of this complication of diabetes. Eighty-one diabetic patients without oesophageal symptoms were studied by solid meal scintigraphic test (SMST) and 35 out of them also by liquid meal scintigraphic test (LMST). As controls, 20 normal volunteers were studied by LMST and 14 by SMST. Forty-seven diabetics studied by SMST were also evaluated by cardiovascular tests (CT) and for the presence of retinopathy and peripheral neuropathy. The most statistically significant difference between diabetics and controls was found at 75s with SMST. SMST results showed a statistically significant correlation with CT. No correlation was found with the presence of retinopathy or peripheral neuropathy. We conclude that SMST is a useful, safe, low-cost diagnostic tool in the detection of diabetic autonomic neuropathy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Hospital CSS, Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Frusciante
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Modoni
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonazza
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Cosmo
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barbano
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lucentini
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Vettori
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001342:Autonomic Nervous System Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004935:Esophageal Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010528:Peristalsis; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D013671:Technetium Tc 99m Sulfur Colloid
chemical_list: D013671:Technetium Tc 99m Sulfur Colloid