Cryptogenic stroke and diabetes: a probable link between silent atrial fibrillation episodes and cerebrovascular disease.

Diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events independently of other factors such as age, sex, BMI and blood pressure. Diabetes plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation because it causes alterations to the autonomic nervous system. It may also be associated with an increased prevalence of asymptomatic episodes of atrial fibrillation, which cause cerebrovascular disease more often than chronic atrial fibrillation.

Peri-procedural tight glycemic control during early percutaneous coronary intervention up-regulates endothelial progenitor cell level and differentiation during acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction: effects on myocardial salvage.

Background: We examined the effects of peri-procedural intensive glycemic control during early percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on the number and differentiation of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and myocardial salvage (MS) in hyperglycemic patients with first ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

Methods And Results: We conducted a randomized, prospective, open label study on 194 patients with STEMI undergoing PCI: 88 normoglycemic patients (glucose < 140 mg/dl) served as the control group. Hyperglycemic patients (glucose ≥140 mg/dl) were randomized to intensive glycemic control (IGC) for almost 24 h after PCI (n = 54; 80-140 mg/dl) or conventional glycemic control (CGC, n = 52; 180-200 mg/dl).