Evaluation in autonomic diabetic neuropathy using a dual-channel self-balancing impedance reactometer. Preliminary study.
The electrodermal reflex to an external acoustic stimulus was determined by means of an original device "'The Neurovegetative Reactometer", as variation of the skin electric resistance delta R/R (recorded on millimetric paper) and latency in the appearance of the response (seconds), in 39 diabetic patients (20 males, 19 females, aged 55 +/- 10 years, and the duration of diabetes of 6 +/- 4 years) with or without clinical neuropathy and, comparatively, in 24 apparently healthy controls. The results showed a statistically significant difference both between the amplitude of the skin electric resistance variation evaluated on millimetric paper (6.77 +/- 4.06 mm versus 22.79 +/- 5.39 mm in the controls, p less than 0.001) and latency (4.29 +/- 1.55 versus 2.49 +/- 0.57 seconds, p less than 0.001). These two parameters reflect quantitatively the skin sympathetic activity in lower limbs. The results obtained recommend neurovegetative reactometry as a practical, non-invasive, rapid and readily applicable method, which is highly technical and sensitive for evaluating autonomic dysfunction in diabetic neuropathy.
D001342:Autonomic Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000295:instrumentation