[Ischemic heart disease]

Abstract

Numerous studies have demonstrated that insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, and diabetes mellitus closely correlate with cardiovascular disease. Diabetic patients frequently have multi-vessel disease, and their coronary arteries show segmental, narrow and complex stenoses with calcified plaques. The features of diabetes mellitus, such as hyperglycemia, insulin resistance and diabetic nephropathy, induce these complicated pathological conditions. In addition, diabetic patients often show silent ischemia due to diabetic neuropathy, which accounts for advanced atherosclerosis in diabetic patients. Therefore, both evaluating cardiovascular disease using non-invasive methods, such as multi-slice CT coronary angiography, and providing an appropriate treatment from an early stage of diabetes mellitus are important to prevent the development of macrovascular disease in diabetic subjects.