Duration and type of therapy for diabetes: Impact on cardiac risk stratification with stress electrocardiographic-gated SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging

• Published in: Journal of nuclear cardiology 2010-12, Vol.17 (6), p.1041-1049
• Main Authors: Barmpouletos, Dimitrios, Stavens, Gerasimos, Ahlberg, Alan W., Katten, Deborah M., O’Sullivan, David M., Heller, Gary V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Cardiology; Cardiovascular Diseases - complications; Cardiovascular Diseases - diagnosis; Cardiovascular Diseases - therapy; Diabetes Complications - diagnosis; Diabetes Complications - therapy; Diabetes Mellitus - diagnosis; Diabetes Mellitus - pathology; Diagnostic Imaging - methods; Electrocardiography - methods; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Imaging; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Myocardial Perfusion Imaging - methods; Nuclear Medicine; Original Article; Prognosis; Radiology; Risk; ROC Curve; Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon - methods
• ISSN: 1071-3581; 1532-6551
• DOI: 10.1007/s12350-010-9293-4

Background Stress electrocardiogram(ECG)-gated single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging is highly effective in risk stratification of diabetic patients for adverse cardiac events. While patients with diabetes are predisposed to a more aggressive progression of vascular disease, the impact of its duration and type of therapy on risk stratification are unknown. Methods From the Hartford Hospital Nuclear Cardiology clinical database, 886 diabetic patients who underwent exercise or pharmacologic stress ECG-gated SPECT were identified, with complete follow-up regarding the occurrence of adverse cardiac events and information regarding the duration of diabetes and the type of therapy (insulin vs oral medication only) at the time of testing. Images were interpreted using the American College of Cardiology/ASNC standard 17-segment scoring model. Results Of the 886 diabetic patients, 98 (11%) suffered cardiac death or non-fatal myocardial infarction during follow-up (2.5 ± 1.6 years). A receiver operator characteristics curve demonstrated that diabetes ≥10 years in duration provided the maximal sum of sensitivity and specificity for the prediction of adverse cardiac outcomes. Multivariate analysis identified the following as independent predictors of adverse outcome: Post-stress ejection fraction (EF) 10 years ( P  = .038), summed stress score (SSS) >8 ( P  = .046). For patients with an SSS >8, diabetes duration and type of therapy significantly enhanced risk stratification. Similar findings emerged for patients with a post-stress EF