[Therapeutic impact of screening for myocardial ischemia among asymptomatic type 2 diabetic subjects]

Coronary artery disease is the major cause of mortality of type 2 diabetic subjects. Its early diagnosis to prevent progression and clinical events has intuitive appeal. Somehow, rationale for screening has not been clearly established. Screening should not modify the medical therapy because diabetic subjects have to be treated in a secondary prevention strategy. We have no data from randomized trials concerning a better outcome after revascularization in this specific population. The question how to select the high risk population to be screened has no response by now. SPECT and stress echocardiography seem valuable for screening but not for risk stratification. A large randomized clinical trial is required to confirm the cost-utility ratio of such a screening.