Diabetic Myonecrosis: A Vascular Complication

Abstract

Diabetic myonecrosis is an unpublicised problem that can occur in patients having either type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus. It usually affects patients who have long-standing, uncontrolled diabetes with associated microvascular complications. We report a case of a 78-year female with diabetic myonecroses admitted to a tertiary care hospital. Although it is a self-limiting disease, we lay down the management approach of how to exclude the extensive list of differential diagnoses and limit the life-threatening complications as urgent evaluation is critical. Clinicians taking care of patients with uncontrolled diabetes should be mindful and aware of the complication of diabetic myonecrosis in a patient presenting with pain in any limb and having negative venous doppler ultrasound for deep vein thrombosis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most specific and sensitive modality for diagnosis. Muscle biopsy can be used for anomalous cases. Although diabetic muscle infarction is a rare pathology, it presents a high risk for diabetes-related morbidity and mortality. Key Words: Myonecrosis, Diabetes mellitus, Doppler ultrasound, Magnetic resonance imaging.