QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON OF ANGIOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CORONARY-ARTERY DISEASE IN PATIENTS WITH NONINSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETES-MELLITUS COMPARED WITH MATCHED NONDIABETIC CONTROL SUBJECTS

The angiographic characteristics of coronary artery disease (CAD) in n oninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients were studied by quantitative coronary angiography (QCA). Fifty-seven consecutive NIDD M patients undergoing clinically indicated elective coronary angiograp hy and 57 nondiabetic coronary artery disease (CAD) patients were indi vidually matched for sex, age, and body mass index. Technically adequa te coronary angiograms, available for 55 subjects in each group, were analyzed with third-generation QCA software. To evaluate the anatomic severity and extent of CAD, several QCA-derived parameters were incorp orated into indexes describing various per-patient features of CAD. Th ese measures reflect CAD severity, extent, and overall ''atheroma burd en,'' and were calculated separately for different coronary segments ( i.e., left main, proximal, mid, and distal segments), for the differen t coronary arterial territories (i.e., left main, left anterior descen ding, left circumflex, and right), and for the entire coronary tree. N o significant differences were found between the NIDDM and nondiabetic groups (global severity index, 51 +/- 14 vs 54 +/- 13, p = NS; global extent index, 34 +/- 13 vs 32 +/- 12, p = NS; global atheroma burden index, 27 +/- 16 vs 24 +/- 12, p = NS). We also found no between-group differences in proximal, mid, or distal segments, in separate vessel territories, or in left ventricular function. Our data suggest that CA D patients, with and without NIDDM, who have similar symptoms at a giv en age, have similar severity and extent of CAD. (C) 1997 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.