Diabetic acidosis; results of treatment in 67 consecutive cases.

Abstract

A REVIEW of the results of treatment of diabetic coma on the Medical Service at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the pre-insulin era shows that the mortality rate was close to 100 per cent. In the period from January, 1942, to November, 1944, there was a mortality of 20 per cent in a series of 35 severe and moderately severe cases of diabetic acidosis. This drop in mortality in the twenty years following the discovery of insulin represents a tremendous improvement. However, such a mortality in any acute illness constitutes a serious challenge. At that time we had tended to . . .