Aim: To investigate whether a correlation exists between abnormal myocardial iron status and cardiac lipid deposition as well as other biomarkers in patients with diabetic heart failure (DHF).
Materials and methods: Seventeen volunteers (Group 1), 26 patients with non-severe DHF (Group 2), and 25 patients with severe DHF (Group 3) were recruited for this study. Myocardial middle-section T2* mapping and septal 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) were performed using a 3 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine to assess the iron status and lipid deposition individually. Fasting venous blood was used to examine serum biomarkers.
Results: Cardiac T2* (ms) of the three groups were 22.8±2.1, 21.7±1.8, and 18.6±1.3, respectively. The value of Group 3 was significantly lower than that of the other two groups (p<0.001). Myocardial triglyceride (%) levels differed among the three groups (Group 1, 0.53±0.13; Group 2, 1.11±0.29; Group 3, 1.47±0.12; p<0.001). Cardiac T2* was inversely correlated with both cardiac triglycerides and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in overall participants (Groups 1-3) or Group 3 (each p<0.001).
Conclusions: Abnormal myocardial iron status was found in patients with severe diabetic heart failure. Myocardial lipotoxicity may be responsible for this process.
Copyright © 2017 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.