Reduced regional cerebral blood flow in aged noninsulin-dependent diabetic patients with no history of cerebrovascular disease: evaluation by N-isopropyl-123I-p-iodoamphetamine with single-photon emission computed tomography.

Regional cerebral blood flow was measured using N-isopropyl-123I-iodoamphetamine with single-photon emission computed tomography (CT) in 16 aged patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM, average age 72.8 years, average fasting plasma glucose 7.7 mmol/L), and 12 nondiabetic subjects (71.6 years, 5.3 mmol/L). None had any history of a cerebrovascular accident. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels did not differ between groups. Areas of hypoperfusion were observed in 14 diabetic patients (12 patients had multiple lesions) and in 6 nondiabetic subjects (3 had multiple lesions). Areas where radioactivity was greater than or equal to 65% of the maximum count of the slice was defined as a region with normal cerebral blood flow (region of interest A, ROI-A), and areas where the count was greater than or equal to 45% were defined as brain tissue regions other than ventricles (ROI-B). The average ROI-A/B ratio of 16 slices was used as a semiquantitative indicator of normal cerebral blood flow throughout the entire brain. Mean ROI-A/B ratio was 49.6 +/- 1.7% in the diabetic group, significantly lower than the 57.9 +/- 1.6% at the nondiabetic group (p less than 0.005). The ratio was inversely correlated with SBP (r = -0.61, p less than 0.05), total cholesterol (r = -0.51, p less than 0.05), and atherogenic index (r = -0.64, p less than 0.01), and was positively correlated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (r = 0.51, p less than 0.05) in the diabetic, but not the nondiabetic group. These observations suggest that the age-related reduction in cerebral blood flow may be accelerated by a combination of hyperglycemia plus other risk factors for atherosclerosis.