“As you know I think tight control is a good idea. The clinical study that is going to prove that tight control prevents vascular disease is about halfway done and is looking promising. So let’s stick with your tight control. I don’t want your kidneys to fail.” This was the first I heard of the DCCT study, from Dr. Andrew Drexler, when I lived in New York City and was his patient.
Archive for the ‘Type 1 Diabetes Classic’ Category
The Discovery of Insulin
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
In a previous essay I wrote about the Edmonton Protocol paper as a diabetes classic. I realized that the second classic I needed to discuss had to be Banting & Best’s discovery of insulin. I had never read it. Then I discovered how hard it was to get.
The Edmonton Protocol
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Diabetes cured! screamed the press. Few type 1 diabetics can forget the excitement that greeted the Edmonton Protocol’s publication and the surge of hope it engendered in 2000. Although the authors of the paper did little to encourage the hyperbole, it was hailed as a cure. It is not, but it is perhaps the most important milestone to date in the development of islet transplantation.