The relationship between insulin resistance and the parameters obtained from gated SPECT myocardial perfusion scintigraphy

Background and Aim: Insulin resistance is shown to be associated with cardiovascular disease. GATED myocardial perfusion SPECT is a simple and easy method, which provides diagnostic and prognostic information on coronary artery disease. The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation between myocardial perfusion scintigraphic findings and insulin resistance.Methods: Our study group consisted of 153 non-diabetic patients (80 women and 73 men, mean age 54 ± 12), referred to our department for the myocardial perfusion scintigraphy with suspected coronary artery disease between October/2011-April/2012. Prior to exercise or pharmacologic cardiac stress test, blood samples were obtained, fasting insulin and blood sugar levels were measured. Insulin resistance was calculated using HOMA-IR method ([fasting plasma insulin (?U/ml) x fasting plasma glucose (mmol/l)]/ 22.5). Left ventricular quantitative parameters were automatically calculated using quantitative GATED SPECT (QGS) software.Results: According to the scintigraphic results, 90 (58,8%) of the patients were normal and 48 (31,3%) of the patients had ischemia. Mean insulin values of patients were found to be 9,06±13,95 in normal group and 7,50±5,71 in the ischemic group(p=0,943). Additionally, HOMA-IR was 2,19±3,59 in normal group and 1,71±1,34 in the ischemic group(p=0,368). There was no significant difference between scintigraphic findings and insulin resistance or HOMA-IR results. Conclusion: We found no significant correlation between insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and cardiovascular risk parameters obtained from GATED SPECT MPS.Keywords: Insulin resistance, HOMA-IR, Myocardial Perfusion Scintigraphy