Blood fluidity and thermography in patients with diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease in comparison to healthy subjects.

The study aimed at initial determination and analysis of selected rheological parameters of blood in the group of diabetics and patients after myocardial infarction and compare the results to the symptoms observed in thermographical studies. The parameters studied were: whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, relative blood viscosity and hematocrit value. A group of 60 subjects took part in the study. The control group (20 persons) included the healthy subjects who had never suffered from any circulatory system disorders and who did not receive any drugs affecting the hemorheological parameters. The group of diabetics included 18 patients and the group after myocardial infarction included 20 patients. Blood viscosity measurements were performed by means of a rotary-oscillatory reometer Contraves LS 40 at the decreasing shear rate ranging from 100-0.01 s(-1) during a period of 5 minutes. For each blood sample the hematocrit value was measured using the standard method. The plasma viscosity was calculated from the linear regression of the shear rate dependence of the shear stress measured by means of the Contraves LS 40 reometer.