Echocardiography Shows Heart Risk of Diabetics

A study has found that using echocardiography following treadmill exercising can help doctors identify diabetic patients at high risk for a heart attack or cardiac death. Conducted by researchers at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA), the study was published in the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The study involved 563 diabetic patients with suspected or known heart disease who were given exercise echocardiograms. Among patients with normal echocardiograms, there were no cardiac events in the first two years, but among patients whose echocardiograms showed multivessel disease, nearly one-third suffered a heart attack or cardiac death within five years.

Unlike nuclear perfusion stress tests, stress echocardiography is completely noninvasive and significantly less expensive. "Diabetic patients often do not experience the typical symptoms of chest pain that others with heart disease have,” says Dr. Patricia Pellikka, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic and author of the study. "This study shows that stress echocardiography would be a very effective tool to screen them for heart attack risk.”
After two years, she noted, a repeat test would show whether the disease has progressed and whether treatment is needed.




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