Ischemia
The word "ischemia" () is from Greek ἴσχαιμος "iskhaimos", "staunching blood" from ἴσχω "iskhο", "keep back, restrain" and αἷμα "haima", "blood".
Proximal diabetic neuropathy
The nerve damage associated with the disease was first thought to be caused by metabolic changes such as endoneurial microvessel disease, which is the degeneration of pericytes due to hyperglycemia, and the reproduction of basement membranes when the pericytes are no longer regulating their cell cycle. The decreased size of the lumen plus the absence of the pericyte, which regulate capillary blood flow and phagocytosis of cellular debris, leads to ischemia. Nerve biopsies have shifted the view toward an immune mechanism that causes Micro Vasculitis, which could eventually lead to ischemia. Experimental treatments using immunosuppressive proteins have provided further corroborative evidence to the immune mechanism theory. Although this disease does occur in patients without diabetes the prevalence is much greater in the diabetic indicating that although hyperglycemia does not directly cause the nerve damage it may play a role.