Diabetes Dialogue: Updates in Diabetes Management from ATTD 23, with Irl Hirsch, MD

In the diabetes community, few names are carried in the same as Irl Hirsch, MD. A professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, Hirsch’s name has become synonymous with advances in the care and management strategies for people with diabetes over the last 2 decades.

While on-site at the 16th annual conference on Advanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD 2023), Diana Isaacs, PharmD, an endocrine clinical pharmacist and CGM program coordinator at the Cleveland Clinic, and Natalie Bellini, DNP, an endocrine nurse practitioner at R&B Medical Group, reached out to Hirsch to be a guest for a special edition episode of Diabetes Dialogue: Technology, Therapeutics, & Real-World Perspectives.

In the episode, Hirsch offers hosts perspective on some of his ongoing work, including the DERMIS study. Funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust, the DERMIS study was launched with the intent of learning more about skin changes occurring as a result of insulin pump use.¹ The study included 30 people with type 1 diabetes who provided skin punch biopsies from their current pump site, a recovery site used 3 days prior to biopsy, and a control site that had never been used for any infusion or injection. Upon analysis, investigators found OCT and OCTA found increased inflammation and vessel density at pump sites compared to control sites. Additionally, histological analysis of pump sites revealed differences in skin architecture including fibrosis, inflammation including increased tissue eosinophils and fat necrosis. Later in the episode, Hirsch offers hosts his opinion on where he believes diabetes research is headed and what he sees as the next forthcoming milestone in care: noninvasive glucose management.

References:

1. Kalus A, Shinohara M, Wang R, et al. The Dermis Study: Evaluation of Insulin Pump Infusion sites in type 1 diabetes. The Lancet. February 2023. doi:10.2139/ssrn.4345818