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Managing dyslipidaemia is central to the management of cardiovascular disease. Statins are the cornerstone of cardiovascular prevention for general population, and in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, statin therapy predisposes to type 2 diabetes, particularly in patients with predisposition to this condition. Some statins have been associated with increases in blood glucose in patients, and others have shown to have neutral effects, varying from one another their glucose or diabetogenic capacity. Pitavastatin is a new member of the statin class. And pitavastatin has a number of pleiotropic effects that can reduce inflammation and lipid oxidation, improve endothelial function, reduce the metabolic changes associated with adiposity, and improve glucose metabolism and renal function.

Objective: The liver is an important organ for various aspects of glucose metabolism, including glucose uptake, storage, and synthesis. It is a major organ in the metabolic process with perfusion provided by both the portal vein and hepatic artery. In diabetic patients organ perfusion is reduced and this is linked to atherosclerosis, and as a result complications occur. In this study, we aimed to evaluate liver perfusion by scintigraphic methods in diabetic patients., Design and Patients: We retrospectively investigated 1,100 myocardial perfusion scintigraphies taken between January 2011 and December 2012 at Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University Medical Faculty Nuclear Medicine Department. A total of 66 patients who were diagnosed with diabetes mellitus and had myocardial perfusion scintigraphies were included in the study. The control subjects included 127 patients without diabetes mellitus who were chosen at random. Patients with chronic liver disease were not included in the study. The values from liver regions of interest (liver-ROI) rates and heart regions of interest (heart-ROI) rates were compared between the patients and controls., Results: Patients were grouped according to the presence of diabetes. In the diabetes mellitus group, the liver-ROI average was lower (p = 0.66) than in the controls. In the control group, the average liver-ROI/heart-ROI ratios were higher than the ratio in the diabetes mellitus group (p = 0.019). Multivariate variance analysis showed that the diabetes mellitus liver-ROI/heart-ROI ratio was independent of other risk factors (p = 0.003; F: 9.6). Powered by Editorial Manager(®) and ProduXion Manager(®) from Aries Systems Corporation., Conclusions: This study shows that liver perfusion in diabetic patients is reduced compared with those without diabetes. Prospective studies with larger patient groups are required.