Diabetes Pharmacist : Diabetes Pharmacist Blog : Focus Express Mail Pharmacy : Insulin Pumps, Diabetes Supplies and Information

Using noninvasive imaging (Magnetic Resonance Imaging  (MRI) ) for the first time in diabetes research, physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School have discovered how it may aid in the early diagnosis, staging, and treatment of diabetes.

"With noninvasive MRI we have the ability to evaluate beta cell mass, a major factor of insulin secretion that is significantly reduced in type two diabetes and almost gone in type one,” said Anna Moore, MD, lead author of the study. “Knowing the number of functional beta cells left would allow physicians to develop the most appropriate treatment plans for their patients. It would also allow them to respond, change or manipulate those treatment plans at any time,” she said.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

A new standard, called the A1C assay, is being recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), to help doctors test for and diagnose diabetes.

Instead of the 12-14 hour fasting glucose test and the glucose tolerance test currently in use, a simple blood test will be taken to measure how much protein in the blood has been fused with excess glucose that is not able to be used by the body because of diabetes.This is a process called called Glycation. Because it is such a simple test to do, the ADA recommends that everyone 45 or over has it regardless of lack of symptoms or family history.

 .

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In important research, scientists in Michigan have discovered  that signs of metabolic stress in the retina caused by diabetes can be detected by capturing a snapshot of the eye.They say that new imaging technology may offer a quick, noninvasive way of detecting diabetes early and monitoring its progress
Although the study focused on patients with diabetes, the researchers feel that  the screening technology should be able to identify people with prediabetes--a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal and that often progresses to full-blown diabetes.  Clinical trials begin this fall (2008), using the system on diabetics and prediabetics.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Researchers at MedStar Research Institute in Washington D.C. hope that a new light machine could replace the traditional diabetes testing method of doing a fasting blood sugar which involves fasting for 12 hours, drinking a sweet glucose solution, and taking a blood test; a process that takes a couple of hours. 

Instead,  the Vera-light scout system would have patients in and out in a flash. It uses fluorescent light to non-invasively measure the effects of high glucose levels in the forearm's connective tissue.                                                                                                                                                                               

It is estimated that 6 million people have undiagnosed diabetes and many of them don't know it for years. When they are finally diagnosed, it's because diabetes complications like blindness or kidney disease have set in.

This painless and quick test should be given to everyone so that an early diagnosis is made, treatment started, and complications avoided.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks