Type 1 diabetes is when a patient lacks their own insulin that comes from specific cells in the pancreas. Insulin's a very important hormone that we all need to live. It helps us to use our food for fuel. And so in patients with type 1 diabetes, many of these have had an autoimmune process that destroys the cells that make the insulin, and they become insulin deficient over time. 

There are certainly genetic predisposition for developing type 1 diabetes. We often will see patients who have relatives maybe with type 1 diabetes, but other autoimmune processes. But in general, we think of type 1 diabetes-- formerly known as juvenile diabetes-- as affecting mainly children. Interestingly enough, is I have a large population in my clinic who have developed type 1 diabetes in adulthood. In childhood, most patients with type 1 diabetes, when they're diagnosed, they present with diabetic ketoacidosis. 

In adulthood, patients often present a little bit differently. The loss of insulin tends to be slower. So these patients may initially be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. 

The treatment for type 1 diabetes is really insulin. This is the main cause of why they have type 1 diabetes is they lack insulin. And when I tell patients this, a lot of them get discouraged, because they're thinking about shots. 

The nice thing about type 1 diabetes is there's also alternatives, such as insulin pumps that will deliver insulin in through a tube into the subcutaneous space. We have a Center for Diabetes Technology that's very active in doing research with patients with type 1 diabetes looking at an artificial pancreas. 

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