General Cardiology

Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction as an Early Manifestation of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy
C.M. Schannwell, M. Schneppenheim, S. Perings, G. Plehn, B.E. Strauer

Clinic of Cardiology, Pneumology and Angiology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany

Address of Corresponding Author

Cardiology 2002;98:33-39 (DOI: 10.1159/000064682)

  Key Words

• Diastolic function
• Type I diabetes mellitus
• Diabetic cardiomyopathy
• Doppler echocardiography

  Abstract

Aims/Hypothesis: Early determination of myocardial manifestations of diabetes mellitus is of major importance, since myocardial involvement considerably influences the prognosis of diabetic patients. The aim of this study was to investigate whether young patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and normal systolic left ventricular (LV) function already show a diastolic LV dysfunction and an increased risk of arrhythmias. Methods: Echocardiography was performed in 87 patients suffering from type I diabetes mellitus, without known cardiac disease and in 87 controls. Patients with a known manifest cardiac disease or a long-term diabetic syndrome were excluded. Morphological parameters were determined using M-mode echocardiography. Doppler echocardiography was used to evaluate parameters of LV diastolic function. The risk of arrhythmia was assessed by means of electrocardiography, heart rate variability, and late potential analysis. Results: The left atrial and ventricular dimensions and systolic functional parameters of all patients were normal. A diastolic dysfunction with a reduction in early diastolic filling, an increase in atrial filling, an extension of isovolumetric relaxation and deceleration time was documented in diabetic patients, as well as an increased number of supraventricular and ventricular premature beats. Conclusion: Even young patients with diabetes mellitus suffer from a diastolic dysfunction while systolic ventricular function is normal. Therefore, echocardiography with measurements of diastolic functional parameters appears to be a sensitive method for evaluating the manifestation and course of early diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Copyright © 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Dr. med. Dr. med. dent. Christiana Mira Schannwell
Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik B, Klinik für Kardiologie
Pneumologie und Angiologie, Heinrich-Heine Universität
Moorenstrasse 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf (Germany)
Tel. +49 211 81 18800, Fax +49 211 81 18251, E-Mail schannw@uni-duesseldorf.de

  Article Information

Received: Received: January 21, 2002
Accepted after revision: May 9, 2002
Number of Print Pages : 7
Number of Figures : 1, Number of Tables : 3, Number of References : 36