Summary

Abstract

DR. WOLF: The discussions of the last two and a half days have described what is really an explosion of new data with respect to diabetes. Nevertheless, until an effective synthesis of the new findings can be achieved, the management of patients with diabetes remains at an empirical level. The complex metabolic interactions that characterize diabetes are being sorted out but their relationship to the appearance of structural vascular lesions remains obscure. The problem of reconciling the morphologic, chemical, epidemiological and clinical evidence into a cohesive whole may be dealt with more effectively in the future as studies of the ultrastructure of islet cells in healthy humans are supplemented by data from the juvenile-onset and the adult diabetic.