Diabetes can strike anyone, from any walk of life.
And it does – in numbers that are dramatically increasing. In the last decade, the cases of people living with diabetes jumped almost 50 percent – to more than 29 million Americans. Worldwide, it afflicts more than 380 million people. And the World Health Organization estimates that by 2030, that number of people living with diabetes will more than double.
Today, diabetes takes more lives than AIDS and breast cancer combined — claiming the life of 1 American every 3 minutes. It is a leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, amputations, heart failure and stroke. Living with diabetes places an enormous emotional, physical and financial burden on the entire family. Annually, diabetes costs the American public more than $245 billion.
Just what is diabetes? To answer that, you first need to understand the role of insulin in your body.
When you eat, your body turns food into sugars, or glucose. At that point, your pancreas is supposed to release insulin. Insulin serves as a “key” to open your cells, to allow the glucose to enter — and allow you to use the glucose for energy. But with diabetes, this system does not work.
Several major things can go wrong – causing the onset of diabetes. Type 1 and type 2 diabetes are the most common forms of the disease, but there are also other kinds, such as gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy, as well as other forms.
Those with diabetes often have a higher risk for kidney and renal function impairment when they receive a recommendation for an imaging exam and the exam is to use a contrast medium. Contrast is used to further distinguish what is going on inside the body, giving radiologists a more extensive picture of anatomical functions in the human anatomy.
Diabetic patients often require exams called angiograms, or angiography, in which the arteries and the veins of the body are examined.
Diagnostic Imaging Services has the solution for diabetic patients receiving such an exam recommendation.
Our major technology upgrade with our high field open MRI now produces outstanding angiography exam results WITHOUT the use of a contrast medium. In fact, our radiologists feel our results are BETTER than exams conducted with contrast.
Now, physicians and diabetic patients have a better, safer alternative when exams are needed Our high field open MRI angiography exams are ideal for diabetic patients who need vascular imaging.
