Muscle Blood Flow, Measured by Xenon₁₃₃and Vascular Calcifications in Diabetics

A study of blood flow in the anterior tibial muscle was performed in a series of 75 young and middle‐aged diabetics. Only three of the patients had symptoms and signs of peripheral vascular insufficiency in the legs. Peak muscular flow after maximal work during ischaemia was reduced in the diabetic patients and decreased with increasing duration of diabetes. Medial calcification of the arteries was common, and it was possible to demonstrate that the decrease in maximal blood flow with increasing duration of diabetes was associated with the presence of arterial calcification. The latency of peak flow was reduced in the diabetics, as has been previously observed by other authors.