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The Influence of Insulin Resistance, Obesity, and Diabetes Mellitus on Vascular Tone and Myocardial Blood Flow

  • Nuclear Cardiology (V Dilsizian, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Among individuals with cardiovascular risk factors, reductions in coronary vasodilator capacity with or without diabetes mellitus (DM) carry important diagnostic and prognostic information. Positron emission tomography (PET) myocardial perfusion imaging in concert with tracer kinetic modeling allows the assessment of absolute regional myocardial blood flow (MBF) at rest and its response to various forms of vasomotor stress. Such noninvasive evaluation of myocardial flow reserve (MFR) or the vasodilator capacity of the coronary circulation expands the possibilities of conventional scintigraphic myocardial perfusion imaging from identifying flow-limiting epicardial coronary artery lesions to understanding the underlying pathophysiology of diabetic vasculopathy, microcirculatory dysfunction, and its atherothrombotic sequelae. Invaluable mechanistic insights were recently reported with PET by unraveling important effects of insulin resistance, obesity, and DM on the function of the coronary circulation. Such noninvasive assessment of coronary circulatory dysfunction enables monitoring its response to antidiabetic medication and/or behavioral interventions related to weight, diet, and physical activity that may evolve as a promising tool for an image-guided and personalized preventive diabetic vascular care. Whether PET-guided improvement or normalization of hyperemic MBF and/or MFR will translate into improved patient outcome in DM is a laudable goal to pursue next.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Research Grant 3200B0-122237 of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), with contributions of the Clinical Research Center, University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva and the Louis-Jeantet Foundation, and Swiss Heart Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Specialities in Medicine, Divisions of Cardiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Ines Valenta, Alessandra Quercioli & Thomas H. Schindler

  2. Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Vasken Dilsizian

  3. Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Radiological Science, Nuclear Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Heinrich R. Schelbert

  4. Department of Specialities in Medicine, Division of Cardiology, 6th Floor, Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac PET/CT, University Hospitals of Geneva, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland

    Thomas H. Schindler

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  1. Ines Valenta
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Valenta, I., Dilsizian, V., Quercioli, A. et al. The Influence of Insulin Resistance, Obesity, and Diabetes Mellitus on Vascular Tone and Myocardial Blood Flow. Curr Cardiol Rep 14, 217–225 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-011-0240-z

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