Abstract
The changes in small blood vessels of nailbed were examined with the vital capillaromicroscopy in 56 diabetics older than 40 years of age. We have proposed the grading system for the statistical analysis of pathological changes of the small blood vessels in this study. The abnormal morphological changes such as dilatations, wavings, tortuosities, branchings, nodular apical enlargements (NAE), tanglings, granularities and so called the fine capillaries were picked up in each photographic picture, and points were given according to their severity.
Summation of points for NAE, granularities and fine capillaries was significantly high in diabetic patients compared with that of healthy control. Patients with nephropathy received higher points (37.6±4.2) than those who have retinopathy alone (26.5±2.4).
The possibility for the usage of this useful method was discussed for the detection of peripheral microangiopathy in diabetic patients.
