13 Sep Diabetes: Whole-Body MRI to Predict Cardiac and Cerebrovascualar Events

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Fabian Bamberg, MD, MPH
Department of Clinical Radiology
Ludwig Maximilians University, Klinikum Grosshadern
Marchioninistrasse 15, 81377 Munich, Germany

 MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? 

Dr. Bamberg: Our study shows that there is a substantial and heterogenous degree of subclinical cardiovascular disease burden in patients with diabetes undergoing whole-body MRI. These whole-body MRI findings have significant prognostic relevance. For instance, our results show that patients without any pathologic findings experience no adverse cardiovascular event over a period of six years while the risk for a heart attack or stroke increases with the degree of disease burden.

MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?

Dr. Bamberg: While we had the hypothesis that whole-body MR findings are highly prognostic, we did not expect such a significant difference between diabetic with findings as compared to patients without findings.

Also, the gradual increase in risk with increasing detected disease burden was not expected.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Bamberg: Our study firstly shows that whole-body imaging by MR for the assessment of subclinical cardiovascular disease burden in patients with diabetes portraits significant prognostic value. Certainly, this is attributable to the fact that the pathophysiologic process of diabetes mellitus is similarly affecting the entire body. In this setting, MRI is particularly feasible given its non-ionizing and comprehensive nature.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study? 

Dr. Bamberg: At this stage, we need to replicate our initial findings that were derived from a relatively moderately sized group of European patients at one institution. We feel that the results need to be confirmed in other multi-centric and international settings but are confident that these encouraging results will trigger many subsequent research efforts.

Citation:
Diabetes Mellitus: Long-term Prognostic Value of Whole-Body MR Imaging for the Occurrence of Cardiac and Cerebrovascular Events
Klaus G. Parhofer, Elena Lochner, Roy P. Marcus, Daniel Theisen, Hannes M. Findeisen, Udo Hoffmann, Stefan O. Schönberg, Christopher L. Schlett, Maximilian F. Reiser, and Sabine Weckbach
Radiology 130371; Published online September 10, 2013, doi:10.1148/radiol.13130371

Last Updated on December 5, 2013 by Marie Benz MD FAAD