Effects of metabolic and myocardial microcirculatory abnormalities on the pathogenesis of cardiac autonomic neuropathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus: A prospective study in Japanese patients.

BACKGROUND: In diabetic patients, cardiac autonomic neuropathy is an important factor affecting prognosis. Whether this condition in diabetic patients is caused directly by neurovisceral metabolic disorder and/or indirectly by micro circulation remains to be clarified.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether cardiac sympathetic nerve dysfunction can be detected using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) testing, while also investigating the effects of metabolic and/or myocardial microcirculatory abnormalities on the pathogenesis of cardiac autonomic nerve dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM-2) in Japan.
METHODS: This prospective study was performed at the Division of Diabetology Department of Internal Medicine, Toho University, Ohashi Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. Patients aged ≥ 18 years with DM-2 with no abnormalities on electrocardiography (ECG) or echocardiography were enrolled. An ATP thallium (Tl)-201 myocardial scintigraphy test (ATP test) and iodine (I)-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy were performed. ATP was administered by continuous IV infusion over 6 minutes at 0.16 mg/kg · min. Five minutes after the ATP infusion was started, T1-201 111 MBq IV was administered. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging was begun immediately after the end of ATP infusion and was completed 3 hours after stress to show washout from stress to rest. I-123 MIBG 111 MBq IV was administered. A planar image from the front side and a SPECT image (early phase) was obtained 15 to 30 minutes later. After 3 hours, a planar image from the front side and a SPECT image (late phase) were obtained to show washout from stress to rest. The mean TI washout rate (ATP-WR) and heart-to-mediastinum (H/M) ratio in the late-phase scintigraphic images and the washout rate of MIBG (MIBG-WR) in the left ventricle was determined. The correlations of these measurements with the mean values of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and fasting plasma glucose obtained from monthly measurements over the previous 6 and 24 months were determined.
RESULTS: A total of 25 patients were enrolled (13 men, 12 women; mean [SD] age, 59.86 [8.28] years). Significant negative correlations between both ATP-WR and MIBG-WR and HbA1c were found (r = -0.52 [P = 0.02] and -0.47 [P = 0.03], respectively). Although no correlation was found between ATP-WR values and the early phase H/M ratio, a significant positive correlation was observed between ATP-WR and H/M ratio (r = 0.54; P = 0.02).
CONCLUSIONS: In the present study in Japanese diabetic patients without subjective signs of coronary artery disease and without abnormalities on ECG or echocardiography, ATP-WR, an indicator of myocardial blood flow, was correlated with myocardial sympathetic nerve dysfunction and 24-month glycemic control. However, sympathetic nerve dysfunction was not correlated with 24-month glycemic control.