Intermittent claudication in diabetes mellitus due to chronic exertional compartment syndrome of the leg: An observational study of 17 patients

Figures & data

Table

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T
1	F	18	1	N	11		11	6.1		10	1	1	1,2	1,2	20	U	2	2	1
2	F	22	1	N	17		14	5.8	abe	0.5	1,2,4	1,2,4	1,2	1,2	2				2
3	F	24	1	N	12		12	10	a	3	1,2	1,2	1,3	1,3	2				3
4	F	25	1	N	15		15	9.1	b	0.2	1	1	1,2	1,2	5				4
5	F	25	1	Y	31		31	8.1	c	0.5	1,2	1,2	1	1	2	U	1	1	5
6	F	39	2	N	1					2	1,3	1,3	1,2	1,2,4	4				6
7	M	39	1	Y	27		27	8.2	abce	10	1	1	1	1	2	U	2	2	7
8	M	39	1	Y	30		30	10	bc	15	1	1	1,3,4	1,3,4	5	U	2	2	8
9	F	40	1	Y	30		30	7.1	bcd	3	1,2,3	1,2,3	1	1	10	U	3	3	9
10	F	40	1	N	38		38	6.4	cde	15	1,2	1,2	1	1	10	U	2	2	10
11	F	43	2	N	14	14	7	8.1	e	15	1,5	1,5	1,2,3	1,2,3	10	30	2	3	11
12	F	46	2	N	18		17	8.1	ab	3	1,2,4	1,2,4	1	1	10	U	1	1	12
13	F	48	1	Y	28		26	8	ade	2	1,2	1,2,3	1,2	1,2	5				13
14	M	48	1	Y	40		40	6.5		10	1	1	1	1	10				14
15	F	,3	2	Y	13	13	13	8.1	bc	6	1,3,4,5	1,3,4,5	1,3	1,3	5	U	2	2	15
16	F	72	2	N	14	14		6.1	c	1	1,2	1,2	1,2,3	1,2,3	15				16
Mean		39			21	14	22	7.7		6					7
A Case											N Preop. signs, right leg (see O)
B Sex											O Preop. signs, left leg
C Age											1 Tenderness anterior compartment;
D Diabetes type											2 Tenderness anterior tibia;
E Hereditary diabetes											3 Muscle hypertrophy;
F Diabetes duration, years											4 Fascial hernia;
G Years of peroral treatment											5 Sensory deficit
H Years of insulin treatment											P Walking time preop., min (see Q)
I Hba1c preoperatively											Q Walking time postop., min
J Diabetes complications											U Unrestricted
a Neuropathy;											R Result at 1 year, right leg (see S)
b Nephropathy;											S Result at 1 year, left leg
c Retinopathy;											according to Abramowitz and Schepsis (1994):
d Wounds;											1. Excellent - No pain during or after exercise. No
e Joint stiffness/pain K Years of leg pain											limitation of duration and extent of exercise. Patient
L Preop. symptoms, right leg (see M)											considers her self/himself cured.
M Preop. symptoms, left leg											2. Good - Minimal discomfort or soreness during/after
1 Pain;											exercise. Significantly improved. Glad to have had
2 Sensory deficit;											surgery.
3 Edema;											3. Fair - Pain with running/exercise or afterwards. Still
4 Muscle fatigue;											has limitation. Only slightly improved.
5 Muscle stiffness											4. Poor - Unchanged or worse. Complications.
											T Case

Muscle pressure (mm Hg) in the m tibialis anterius in non-diabetics (green) and diabetics (blue) with chronic compartment syndrome: at rest, immediately after provocation of leg pain by treadmill walking, and at intervals thereafter. The transverse lines show the median, boxes represent 50% of the observations, and whiskers represent 75% of the observations. Diabetes: n = 16 non-diabetics; n = 18. Differences between the groups at all times, except 5 min, were statistically significantly different (p < 0.05). It is obvious that the variation was much higher in diabetics, and some of them consistently had very high pressures.