Obvious or Subclinical Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Diabetes Mellitus (Type II): An Echocardiographic Tissue Deformation Study

Diabetes mellitus is capable of impairing the myocardial function. Several studies have documented the influential impact of diabetes mellitus on the left ventricular function. The right ventricular function plays a significant role in the overall myocardial contractility; hence, this study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of diabetes mellitus type II on the right ventricular function. Twenty-two diabetic patients without any coronary artery disease, hypertension, or left ventricular dysfunction were studied. The right ventricular end diastolic diameter, tricuspid plane systolic excursion, right ventricular inflow Doppler parameters, longitudinal myocardial velocities, and deformation indices from the basal and apical segments of the right ventricular free wall of the case group were measured. The control group consisted of 22 healthy individuals. The tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) and tricuspid peak early to peak late diastolic flow velocities ratio (E/A) in the diabetic patients were significantly lower than those of the control group patients (18.9 vs. 23.2, p value < 0.001 and 0.96 vs. 1.21, p value = 0.012), but there were no significant differences in the right ventricular end diastolic diameter and the right ventricular Tei index between the two groups (p value = 0.72). The right ventricular basal peak myocardial systolic velocity (SM) (12 cm/sec vs. 13.4 cm/sec; p value = 0.03), basal and apical right ventricular free wall systolic strain (-13.3% and -18.7% vs. -20.2% and -25.7%; p value = 0.001), and apical strain rate (-1.2 1/s vs. -1.6 1/s; p value = 0.008) were significantly lower in the study group. There was a weak correlation between the right ventricular function and HbA1c as well as the duration of diabetes mellitus and C-reactive protein. Our results suggest that diabetes mellitus type II can influence the right ventricular function in the absence of coronary artery disease, diastolic dysfunction, and pulmonary hypertension.