[Left ventricular function and diabetes mellitus].

Since the original description by Rubler et al [1] based on their study from four adult diabetic subjects with non-coronary congestive cardiac failure (CCF) and subsequent observations by the Framingham workers [2] about the most frequent occurrence of CCF among the diabetics than could be explained by hypertension or ischaemic heart disease alone, interest was renewed in the field of cardiac involvement in long-standing diabetic patients. Pathological evidence among the nine diabetic subjects without significant coronary atherosclerosis on post-mortem examination by Regan et al [3] about the presence of Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) positive material, presumably a glycoprotein in the interstitium of the myocardium, lent further support to the existence of a specific type of heart muscle disease among diabetics.