Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Aug 25, 2016; 7(16): 321-332
Published online Aug 25, 2016. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v7.i16.321
Assessment of the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal autonomic complications of diabetes
Christina Brock, Birgitte Brock, Anne Grave Pedersen, Asbjørn Mohr Drewes, Niels Jessen, Adam D Farmer
Christina Brock, Anne Grave Pedersen, Asbjørn Mohr Drewes, Adam D Farmer, Mech-Sense, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Aalborg University Hospital, DK-9000 Aalborg, Denmark
Christina Brock, Department of Pharmacotherapy and Development, University of Copenhagen, DK-2450 Copenhagen, Denmark
Christina Brock, Anne Grave Pedersen, Clinical Biochemistry, Aarhus University, DK-3780 Aarhus, Denmark
Niels Jessen, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, DK-3780 Aarhus, Denmark
Adam D Farmer, Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospitals of North Midlands, Staffordshire WS73 JQ, United Kingdom
Adam D Farmer, Centre for Digestive Diseases, Wingate Institute of Neurogastroenterology, Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London EN1 1NX, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Brock C, Brock B, Pedersen AG, Drewes AM, Jessen N and Farmer AD contributed to this manuscript by reviewing relevant literature, drafting relevant sections including critical revision of co-authors sections and made a final approval of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Christina Brock, DVM, PhD, Associate Professor, Mech-Sense, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Aalborg University Hospital, Mølleparkvej 4, DK-9000 Aalborg, Denmark. christina.brock@rn.dk
Telephone: +45-9766-0510 Fax: +45-9766-3577
Received: February 18, 2016
Peer-review started: February 20, 2016
First decision: March 25, 2016
Revised: April 8, 2016
Accepted: June 1, 2016
Article in press: June 3, 2016
Published online: August 25, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: Autonomic complications are common and bothersome long-term sequelae of diabetes. However, they are frequently under-diagnosed and sub-optimally treated. Arguably this is as a consequence of a lack of appreciation of the various testing options that are available, particularly for end organ dysfunction such as within the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems. Our review aims to provide a succinct review of the current investigational armamentarium that are available and also provide the reader with a summary of the cutting edge techniques that have the potential to influence clinical practice in the future.