Noninvasive Detection of Endothelial Dysfunction in Elderly with NIDDM by Ultrasonography

• Published in: Echocardiography Vol. 18; no. 7; pp. 559 - 564
• Main Authors: Kimura, Yasuhiro, Matsumoto, Masayuki, Miyauchi, Eiji, Deng, You-Bin, Iwai, Kunimitsu, Hattori, Hideyuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Futura Publishing, Inc 01.10.2001; Wiley
• Subjects: Administration, Sublingual; Aged; Aging; Aging - physiology; Arteriosclerosis; Arteriosclerosis - diagnostic imaging; Arteriosclerosis - etiology; Blood Flow Velocity; Brachial Artery; Brachial Artery - diagnostic imaging; Brachial Artery - drug effects; diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - complications; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - diagnostic imaging; Endothelium; Endothelium - diagnostic imaging; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nitroglycerin; Nitroglycerin - pharmacology; Probability; rarefaction; Reference Values; Regression Analysis; Risk Assessment; Sensitivity and Specificity; Statistics, Nonparametric; Ultrasonography, Doppler; Ultrasonography, Doppler - methods; ultrasound; Vasodilation; Vasodilation - drug effects
• ISSN: 0742-2822; 1540-8175
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1540-8175.2001.00559.x

We compared endothelial function noninvasively in 15 elderly patients with noninsulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) with 12 nondiabetic elderly patients. Using high resolution ultrasound, we measured flow‐mediated dilatation (FMD) of the brachial artery and sublingual nitroglycerin (NTG)‐mediated dilatation. FMD was significantly impaired in subjects with NIDDM compared with control subjects. In NIDDM subjects, FMD with complications was lower than in subjects with noncomplications. However, there was no significant difference in NTG between NIDDM subjects and the control group. Hyperemic blood flow change was lower in NIDDM subjects, but not significant. These results suggest that elderly patients with NIDDM have impaired L‐arginine/nitric oxide (NO) pathways and the possibility of capillary rarefaction.