Microangiopathy of ethylic polyneuropathy.

The authors have studied, by biopsy of the tip of the big toe, the histologic changes in microvessels of patients affected by ethylic polyneuropathy. Patients affected by diabetes, hypertension, peripheral arterial or venous diseases, or dermatologic diseases or vasculitides were excluded. The mean of daily drinks was 310 +/- 105 g of alcohol, chiefly wine. Important pathologic modifications were noted; complete narrowing of the arteriovenous anastomosis, regressive changes of the Vater-Pacini corpuscles, and dilatation of the small veins and the capillaries. The findings were compared with those of a patient affected by ulcerans and mutilans acropathy of Bureau and Barriere, a typical disease of alcoholics. The same characteristics appeared: profound changes of the structure of the smallest vessels, with sclerosis, extended to the interstitium. In a previous study of the authors, 3 other patients affected by Bureau-Barriere disease showed the same pattern. These alterations can be explained as the effect of alcohol on the microvessels.