OBJECTIVE: To measure with ultrasound the increased erythrocyte aggregation (EA) kinetics and adhesion energy between erythrocytes in patients with type 2 diabetes and poor metabolic control.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Blood samples were analyzed in a Couette rheometer at 32 MHz following shear rate reductions from 500 s-1 to residual shears of 0 (stasis), 1, 2, 10, 50, 100, and 200 s-1. The increase in EA was determined with the integrated backscatter coefficient as a function of time and shear rate.
RESULTS: The time required to form aggregates was shorter in diabetic patients at shear rates below 200 s-1 (P <>
CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound can potentially noninvasively demonstrate, in vivo and in situ, the impact of local abnormal EA on arteriovenous flow disorders in diabetes.
(C) 2008 by the American Diabetes Association, Inc.
