[Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy in type 2 diabetic patients with atypical chest pain]

To verify the prevalence of ischemic myocardial abnormalities, 67 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) with normal basal electrocardiogram (EKG) or with ventricular repolarization abnormalities were evaluated by a perfusional myocardial scintigraphy. The average age was 63.5 +/- 9 years. Twenty-one (31.3%) were male and 46 (68.7%) female. A significant part of the sample (62.7%) had a normal myocardial scan, 37.3% were positive for ischemia. The majority of the sample (91%; n = 61) was submitted to an EKG during exercise which was positive for ischemia in 31.1%. The concordance between myocardial scintigraphy and the EKG during exercise demonstrated a low correlation between the two procedures (Kappa = 0.49; P = 0.0001). We conclude that perfusional myocardial scan is a highly valuable tool for evaluation and diagnosis of coronary artery disease in DM2 patients with atypical angina.