Patients with type 2 diabetes present with multiple anomalies of the pancreatic arterial tree on abdominal computed tomography: comparison between patients with type 2 diabetes and a matched control group

Abstract

Background: Studies suggest that cardio-vascular risk factors could foster the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D). This could partly be mediated by pancreatic atherosclerosis resulting in pancreatic ischemia. We hypothesized that patients with T2D present with more severe atherosclerosis of pancreas-bound arteries than control patients without T2D. Methods: We performed a retrospective study comparing the abdominal computed tomography of patients with T2D and of control subjects matched for gender and for age. We performed a multivariate logistic regression with adjustment for age, gender, BMI and the presence or absence of hypertension. Results: Forty-eight patients with T2D and 48 control subjects were included. A calcification score of the splenic artery was defined (from 0: no calcification to 3: continuous linear calcifications). Seventeen percent of the patients with T2D presented with a high calcification score (i.e. 2 or 3), versus only 2% of the control subjects (p = 0.04). The mean number of pancreas-bound branches among the greater pancreatic artery, dorsal pancreatic artery and inferior pancreatic artery (from 0 to 3) was lower in patients with T2D than in control subjects (1.1 vs 1.7, p = 0.003). The mean number of visible intrapancreatic arterial subdivisions (from 0 to 2) was lower in patients with T2D than in control subjects (0.7 vs 1.3, p = 0.0017). All these differences hold true using multivariate logistic regression. None of these differences correlated with the duration of diabetes. The relationship between pancreas volume and BMI seen in control subjects was not confirmed in patients with T2D. Conversely, in patients with T2D but not in control subjects, the splenic artery diameter correlated with the pancreas volume. Conclusions: Patients with T2D present with more calcifications of the splenic artery and with a less dense pancreatic arterial tree than control subjects.

Two‐stage deep learning model for fully automated pancreas segmentation on computed tomography: Comparison with intra‐reader and inter‐reader reliability at full and reduced radiation dose on an external dataset

“…1 We hypothesize that the higher mean pancreatic volumes in our cohort were due to technical factors such as later generation CT scanners that result in contiguous isotropic CT data acquisition with better spatial and contrast resolution and decreased partial volume effects. 47,48 This is supported by the fact that nearly half of cases in our internal dataset had thin-section CT (slice thickness <= 1.5 mm).…”

Quantitative Characterization of Age-Related Changes in Peripheral Vessels of a Human Palm Using Raster-Scan Optoacoustic Angiography

“…Similar changes in the peripheral vascular bed can accompany the development of angiopathies common in the population, being a predictor of cardiovascular death [2,3]. Thus, the geometric features of the vessels of different organs in diabetes mellitus are described, and the prognostic value for the development of the disease is shown [4,5]. In atherosclerotic lesions of the arteries, developed collaterals are able to compensate and improve the condition, and a decrease in capillary density is considered a negative prognostic sign [6,7].…”