[Regional cerebral blood flow in diabetic patients]

N-isopropyl-p-123I-iodoamphetamine (IMP) was used to quantify the regional cerebral blood flow (r-CBF) in 11 diabetic patients (average age; 67.9 years) and 12 non-diabetic subjects (average age; 67.4 years), none of whom had CVD (Cerebrovascular disease) on CT studies. A reference sampling method by continuous arterial blood sampling was used to quantify r-CBF. There were no significant differences in physiological or laboratory data between diabetic and non-diabetic groups except for fasting plasma glucose and HbA1C levels. The average of r-CBF in each region of cerebrum and cerebellum was significantly lower in diabetic group than that in the control group (p < 0.01). These observations show that r-CBF of diabetic patients is reduced, even in the absence of findings of CVD on a CT study.