Imaging the Pancreatic Beta Cell
Workshop Hosted by NIBIB, NIDDK and JDRFI
Bethesda Marriott Hotel
5151 Pooks Hill Road
Bethesda, Maryland
April 21-22, 2003
Background
Diabetes is a devastating disease that affects 16 million Americans. Type 1 diabetes results from the immune destruction of the pancreatic beta cell and loss of its secreted product, insulin. Type 2 diabetes results in an insulin resistant individual when the beta cells are no longer able to produce enough insulin to overcome this reduced response in the tissues. Recent advances in noninvasive imaging techniques such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), other nuclear imaging techniques, and optical absorption or fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging, make it likely that a clinical exam to monitor beta cell number, mass, function, or lymphocyte infiltration/inflammatory activity can soon be established. This would allow at-risk individuals to be monitored prior to onset of diabetes. Patients could be monitored over the course of their disease, to follow individual responses to therapy, and to assess success of engraftment following islet transplantation. Researchers would learn about the natural history of diabetes.
Page last updated: November 05, 2010
