Characteristics of myocardial infarction in patients with diabetes mellitus based on 201Tl myocardial scintigraphy

Abstract The purpose of this study was to assess the severity of myocardial disorder and cardiac function in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) who had had a myocardial infarction. Exercise 201 Tl myocardial single photon emission computed tomography was used to assess cardiac function. Seventy-two patients who had had a myocardial infarction participated in the study: 27 patients with DM (DM group) and 45 patients without DM (non-DM group). The mean left ventricular ejection fraction in the DM group, estimated by echocardiography, was 50%, and was significantly lower than that of the non-DM group (58%). A complete absence of 201 TlCl in the infarct area was found in 13 patients (48%) in the DM group and 11 patients (24%) in the non-DM group, which is a significant difference. The results of stress imaging revealed a mean % 201 Tl uptake in the DM group of 51.9%, which was significantly lower than the 59.6% in the non-DM group. On the delayed image, the mean % 201 Tl uptake in the DM group was 58.2%, also significantly lower than the 67.8% recorded in the non-DM group. We, therefore, concluded that among patients with DM who had had a myocardial infarction, the degree of myocardial damage in the infarct area and the degree of left ventricular dysfunction is markedly increased compared with patients who do not have DM.