Purpose: We assessed the impact of type 2 diabetes, in the presence of other major cardiovascular risk factors, on coronary microvascular function and myocardial perfusion in patients without obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD).
Methods: In this prospective study, 23 patients with type 2 diabetes and 26 nondiabetic patients matched for age, sex and other cardiovascular risk factors underwent a cold pressure test (CPT) and dipyridamole transthoracic echocardiography to determine their coronary flow (CF) ratio. Within 2 weeks, all diabetic patients also underwent dipyridamole-rest myocardial perfusion single-photon emission (MPS) CT. None of the patients with or without diabetes had significant CAD on invasive coronary angiography.
Results: The CPT-CF ratio was significantly lower in diabetic patients than in nondiabetic patients (1.46 ± 0.26 vs. 1.71 ± 0.32, p = 0.006) and was correlated significantly with fasting glycaemia (r = -0.35, p = 0.01), but not with glycated haemoglobin. The dipyridamole-CF ratio was also lower in diabetic patients than in nondiabetic patients (2.38 ± 0.74 vs. 2.75 ± 0.49, p = 0.04). On MPS imaging, 5 diabetic patients (22%) had stress-induced ischaemia and the remaining 18 (78%) had normal myocardial perfusion. The dipyridamole-CF ratio was not different in patients with and without reversible defects (2.3 ± 1.1 vs. 2.4 ± 0.6, p = 0.97).
Conclusion: Coronary microvascular function is impaired in type 2 diabetic patients without significant CAD, compared to nondiabetic patients with similar other cardiovascular risk factors. In the majority of diabetic patients, microvascular dysfunction is associated with normal myocardial perfusion.