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Jun 21 - Researchers found that many diabetics who are not experiencing any cardiac symptoms are actually suffering a lack of oxygen-rich blood to the heart when the heart's demand for that blood is greatest. The results of the study were presented at this year's Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting and were summarized in a press release from the Society of Nuclear Medicine.
Diabetes is a disorder in the body's ability to use blood sugar (glucose). Glucose is the main source of energy for the human body. It is taken from the starches and sugars that people eat. It travels through the bloodstream, circulating throughout the body. Normally, the body's tissues can absorb the glucose and use it for energy with the help of insulin -- a hormone produced in the pancreas (an organ next to the stomach) that is normally secreted when glucose levels are high. To function well, the body must have enough insulin, as well as the ability to use insulin properly. Otherwise, glucose will simply build up in the bloodstream and then get flushed from the body in the urine, rather than going into the cells to feed them. Therefore, people with untreated diabetes may have dangerously high blood sugar levels.
Scientists have already determined that diabetics face greater cardiovascular risks than non-diabetics face. Heart disease contributes to most diabetes-related deaths, largely because of episodes in which the heart is not receiving enough oxygen-rich blood (cardiac ischemia). Researchers decided to investigate whether nuclear stress testing might better identify the presence of cardiac ischemia in a group of diabetics who were presenting for cardiac assessment.
The study involved 189 diabetics whose cardiac functioning was assessed by a standard EKG as well as a more sensitive test called SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging, which is also known as a nuclear stress test. This test assessed cardiac functioning while each person was at rest, and also when each person's heart was "stressed" by the body's greater need for oxygen-rich blood during exercise. If a person was unable to exercise as part of the test, then the person received a drug called dipyridamole, which mimicked the heart's reaction to exercise though the person was actually at rest.
Results of the study showed that more than half of the patients were experiencing cardiac ischemia when the heart was under stress, though the EKG picked up cardiac abnormalities in only about 14% of the patients.
Lead researcher Dr. John O. Prior said in the press release, "Our results indicate that diabetic patients should be aware that although they might not experience chest pain during stress-test exercising, they are actually at increased risk for cardiac events, and SPECT can provide important information about that risk. This is also true for patients who are physically unable to perform a bicycle or treadmill test or who presented with ECG abnormalities on an earlier stress test."
Content provided by ArmMed Media
Revision date: 12 December 2007
Last revised by Amalia K. Gagarina, M.S., R.D.
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