Unusual muscle pain in two patients with diabetic renal failure

KM Chow, CC Szeto, JF Griffith, TYH Wong, PKT Li
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong:
Department of Medicine and Therapeutics

We report on two patients with diabetic muscle infarct, a painful musculoskeletal disorder complicating longstanding diabetes with established microangiopathy. Both patients had renal failure that was treated by dialysis. The underlying pathophysiological process was considered to be an arterial vascular event mediated through ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Clinicians should be alert to this condition. T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was valuable in establishing the diagnosis.

Hong Kong Med J 2002;8:368-71

Key words: Infarction; Kidney failure; Magnetic resonance imaging; Muscle, skeletal; Reperfusion injury