Diabetic Autonomic Neuropathy

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-154
Author(s):  
Roy C. Parish

Diabetic autonomic neuropathy (DAN) occurs in approximately half of Caucasian patients with diabetes and perhaps three-fourths of black diabetic patients. This may be asymptomatic for several years, but the majority of patients with DAN eventually exhibit symptoms of diarrhea, cardiac arrhythmias, sexual dysfunction, and abnormal sweating. Prolonged hyperglycemia results in damage to the autonomic nervous system (ANS), particularly the vagus nerve and other parts of the parasympathetic division. DAN is associated with increased risk of sudden death, high-risk cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, and death from other causes. Objective testing of autonomic nervous system function yields specific information that affects treatment decisions. Drug therapy can effect improvements in ANS function and reduce these risks. Complications of diabetes that result from ANS dysfunction can be partly reversed or their progress can be slowed by appropriate drug therapy. Features, implications, and therapy of the most common complications resulting from DAN are reviewed, and suggestions for pharmacist involvement in the care of these difficult patients are offered.

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidheshwar Virbhadraappa Birajdar ◽  
Sheshrao Sakharam Chavan ◽  
Sanjay A. Munde ◽  
Yuvraj P. Bende

Background: Neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes mellitus and it may affect both the peripheral nerves and autonomic nervous system. It’s prevalence ranges from 1% to 90%. The present study is therefore designed to investigate autonomic nervous system involvement in diabetes mellitus by using simple bedside tests and to study its association with other diabetic angiopathies.Methods: 100 patients of diabetes mellitus were selected in the study. In Autonomic function tests for evaluating parasympathetic damage E: I ratio, 30:75 ratio and Valsalva ratio test was performed. Sympathetic damage was diagnosed by Blood pressure response to standing test and Blood pressure response to sustained handgrip test.Results: Abnormal E:I ratio was noticed in only 24 patients. The 30:15 ratio was found to be abnormal in 38 patients while the Valsalva Ratio was abnormal in 34 patients. Postural hypotension was observed in only 8% patients. The sustained hand grip test was abnormal in 10 patients. The prevalence of cardiac autonomic neuropathy was 58%. The association between the presence of autonomic neuropathy and peripheral neuropathy was statistically significant. However, the association between autonomic neuropathy and retinopathy and nephropathy was not statistically significant.Conclusions: The overall prevalence of autonomic neuropathy in diabetes mellitus was 58%. There was parasympathetic preponderance over sympathetic nervous system in the involvement of diabetic autonomic neuropathy. There was statistically significant association of diabetic autonomic neuropathy with peripheral neuropathy as compared to retinopathy and nephropathy.


1978 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Ewing

Clinical features of autonomic neuropathy include postural hypotension, sweating abnormalities, disturbance of body temperature regulation, gastric fullness and nausea, intermittent nocturnal diarrhoea, constipation, bladder problems and impotence. In diabetic patients, gustatory sweating and hypoglycaemic unawareness also sometimes occur (Johnson & Spalding, 1974). The onset of symptoms is usually insidious and permanent, but may occasionally be acute and reversible (Young, Asbury, Corbett & Adams, 1975). Autonomic dysfunction can arise from three main causes: first, those where the damage to the autonomic nervous system is isolated, as in primary postural hypotension (Bannister, Sever & Gross, 1977) and familial dysautonomia (Brunt & McKusick, 1970); secondly, those caused by toxic or pharmacological agents which interfere with autonomic reflexes; thirdly, those associated with systemic disease, of which diabetes mellitus is the most common. Other diseases which may cause autonomic dysfunction include amyloidosis, porphyria, tetanus, polyneuritis, tabes dorsalis, parkinsonism, chronic renal failure and alcoholism, and occasionally autonomic neuropathy has been associated with carcinoma of the bronchus or the pancreas (Johnson & Spalding, 1974). Although it is possible to localize lesions within the autonomic nervous system to afferent or efferent sympathetic or parasympathetic pathways (Johnson & Spalding, 1974; Moskowitz, 1977), many of the available tests are complex and invasive and often lack adequate control measurements (Young et al., 1975). Because of the patchy nature of autonomic neuropathy, current interest has centred around the search for bedside tests that are ‘global’, reproducible and non-invasive. This review summarizes the present state of knowledge of simple tests of cardiovascular reflex function in the clinical evaluation of autonomic neuropathy, particularly in diabetic subjects.


Author(s):  
Yu.D. Udalov ◽  
L.A. Belova ◽  
V.V. Mashin ◽  
L.A. Danilova ◽  
A.A. Kuvayskaya

When studying oncology diseases, it is necessary not only to assess their nature, progress and outcome depending on the local disease process, but also to take into account overall health, since multiple organ damage has a prognostic value and determines the disease outcome. All mechanisms and structures that have an integrative and homeostatic effect on the overall health should be considered. One of these structures is the autonomic nervous system. Traditionally, the autonomic nervous system has been considered in terms of 3 components: sympathetic, parasympathetic and intestinal. However, in recent years, ideas about neuroendocrine and neuroimmune systems have come to the fore, justifying the expansion of the concept "autonomy of the nervous system." In case of autonomous dysfunction, dysregulation of the involuntary body functions occurs, and autonomic neuropathy develops. There are cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, urogenital, and sudomotor forms of autonomic neuropathy, which are characterized by certain changes in various pathological states, especially in malignant processes. We pay attention to breast cancer, which ranks first in the structure of oncology diseases in the Russian Federation. Nowadays, there are only a few studies devoted to the changes in the autonomic nervous system in patients with breast cancer during anticancer drug therapy, taking into account the disease progress and clinical features, as well as methods for dysfunction remodeling. The article analyzes a number of scientific information sources that can help to study various forms of autonomic neuropathy in patients with breast cancer and allow assessing the use of medical rehabilitation for such patients. Key words: autonomic nervous system, autonomic neuropathy, breast cancer, antitumor drug therapy. При изучении онкологического заболевания необходимо не только оценивать его характер, течение и исход в зависимости от локального процесса, но и учитывать общее состояние организма, так как множественное поражение органов имеет прогностическое значение и определяет исход заболевания. Следует рассматривать все механизмы и структуры, которые оказывают интегративное и гомеостатическое действие на организм в целом. Одной из таких структур является вегетативная нервная система. Традиционно вегетативная нервная система рассматривалась в аспекте 3 составляющих: симпатической, парасимпатической и кишечной. Однако в последнее время на первый план вышли представления о нейроэндокринных и нейроиммунных системах, обосновывающие расширение значения понятия «автономность нервной системы». При поражении автономной нервной системы возникает дисрегуляция непроизвольных функций организма, развивается автономная нейропатия. Выделяют кардиоваскулярную, гастроинтестинальную, урогенитальную, судомоторную формы автономной нейропатии, которые характеризуются определенными изменениями при различных патологических состояниях организма, особенно при злокачественных процессах. Фокус нашего научного внимания был направлен на рак молочной железы, который занимает первое место в структуре онкологических заболеваний в Российской Федерации. В литературе представлены немногочисленные исследования, отражающие изменения состояния вегетативной нервной системы у больных раком молочной железы в процессе противоопухолевой лекарственной терапии с учётом характера течения и клинических особенностей болезни, а также методы рациональной коррекции её дисфункции. В статье приведен анализ ряда научных источников, которые могут помочь в исследовании различных форм автономной нейропатии у больных раком молочной железы и позволят оценить возможность применения медицинской реабилитации для данной категории пациентов. Ключевые слова: вегетативная (автономная) нервная система, автономная нейропатия, рак молочной железы, противоопухолевая лекарственная терапия.


2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginie Le Rolle ◽  
Alfredo I. Hernández ◽  
Pierre-Yves Richard ◽  
Guy Carrault

One of the clinical examinations performed to evaluate the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity is the tilt test, which consists in studying the cardiovascular response to the change of a patient's position from a supine to a head-up position. The analysis of heart rate variability signals during tilt tests has been shown to be useful for risk stratification and diagnosis on different pathologies. However, the interpretation of such signals is a difficult task. The application of physiological models to assist the interpretation of these data has already been proposed in the literature, but this requires, as a previous step, the identification of patient-specific model parameters. In this paper, a model-based approach is proposed to reproduce individual heart rate signals acquired during tilt tests. A new physiological model adapted to this problem and coupling the ANS, the cardiovascular system (CVS), and global ventricular mechanics is presented. Evolutionary algorithms are used for the identification of patient-specific parameters in order to reproduce heart rate signals obtained during tilt tests performed on eight healthy subjects and eight diabetic patients. The proposed approach is able to reproduce the main components of the observed heart rate signals and represents a first step toward a model-based interpretation of these signals.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-83
Author(s):  
DB Karki ◽  
S Acharya ◽  
P Shrestha ◽  
S Pant ◽  
A Pokhrel ◽  
...  

Introduction: Dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system is common in diabetic patients. Presence of autonomic dysfunction should alert the physicians of its serious consequences that require timely preventive measures. Objectives: This study was done to fi nd out the autonomic nervous system involvement in Type 2 diabetic patients and to see its relation with the duration of diabetes. Methods: This was a hospital based cross-sectional study. All consecutive diabetic patients of both genders attending Kathmandu Medical College and a private clinic, Temple of Healing were included. A battery of six well validated and accepted autonomic nervous system evaluation tests were done to evaluate the autonomic function in 245 Type 2 diabetic patients. Results: Prevalence of autonomic dysfunction was found to be 71.02% with 58.78% patients having mild autonomic dysfunction and 12.24% having moderate dysfunction. Severe autonomic dysfunction was detected in none of the patients. Parasympathetic dysfunction was much more common than sympathetic dysfunction (68.16% vs. 17.96%). No association was found between autonomic dysfunction and duration of diabetes. Conclusions: Autonomic dysfunction is very common in diabetics and can be detected by simple tests. Timely detection of autonomic dysfunction in diabetic patients is advised so that its preventive measures can be effective. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jkmc.v1i2.8142 Journal of Kathmandu Medical College, Vol. 1, No. 2, Oct.-Dec., 2012: 77-83


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