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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- People with a certain type of diabetes caused by mutations in the Kir6.2 potassium channel may be able to give up their insulin shots in favor of an oral treatment.
Researchers arrived at that conclusion after studying the use of oral sulfonylureas -- like glimepiride, glyburide and tolazamide -- in 49 patients with the Kir6.2 form of the disease. People with Kir6.2 mutations develop diabetes before the age of 6 months and typically are treated with insulin injections.
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In the study, 44 of the patients, or 90 percent, were able to successfully switch from injected insulin to the oral medication. What's more, the treatment appeared to produce better results than with insulin shots, including better blood sugar control. Oral sulfonylureas were well tolerated by the patients, with occasional diarrhea as the only reported side effect.
The authors believe these findings suggest patients with diabetes that developed before 6 months old should be tested to see if they have the Kir6.2 form of the disease. They write, "We recommend early molecular genetic diagnosis in all patients with diabetes whose disease was diagnosed before the age of 6 months, whatever their current age, since the identification of patients with Kir6.2 mutations has important therapeutic implications."
Between 30 percent and 58 percent of all diabetes diagnosed before 6 months is caused by Kir6.2 mutations.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, 2006;355:467-477
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