Can Diabetes Be Cured?
Potential Biological and Mechanical Approaches
- Author Affiliations: Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- BARIATRIC SURGERY
- BLOOD GLUCOSE
- DIABETES MELLITUS
- DIABETES MELLITUS, TYPE 1
- DIABETES MELLITUS, TYPE 2
- DRUG THERAPY
- EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES
- GASTRIC BANDING
- GLYCEMIC INDEX
- HEMOGLOBIN A, GLYCOSYLATED
- INSULIN INFUSION SYSTEMS
- INSULIN RESISTANCE
- INSULIN-SECRETING CELLS
- ISLETS OF LANGERHANS TRANSPLANTATION
- MEDICAL DEVICES
- PANCREAS TRANSPLANTATION
To feel our ills is one thing, but to cure them is another.—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) Epistolae
For individuals with diabetes, the ultimate hope is cure. But how will this cure ever be realized? If the answer was obvious, all effort would be directed to it, and a Manhattan Project model would succeed. But not knowing where the cure will be found, a series of diverse approaches must be pursued, with the hope that at least one will prove successful. The broad paths to a cure may be considered either biological and surgical or mechanical.
Biological and Surgical Approaches
When successful, whole-organ allographic pancreas transplant is a state-of-the-art biological cure, normalizing blood glucose levels. About 400 to 500 pancreas transplantations are performed per year in the United States. But how successful is this “cure”? Pancreas transplants require major surgery, the best outcomes being achieved when a kidney transplantation is performed simultaneously. Recipients must …
