Around the 30th week of pregnancy, doctors would look at the size of a baby's belly through ultrasound. But if it's above the 70th percentile, then they're in the at-risk category, and that gives us enough time to treat the mother with insulin before birth. He also talked about predicting and preventing diabetes in mothers after they give birth, the topic of a current National Institutes of Health-funded study he's working on with Kjos, Peters and Xiang. Women who get diabetes during pregnancy often see it go away right after birth. Buchanan is looking for the reasons why.
Beta cells produce insulin, which helps blood sugar get into the body's cells, where it's needed.
His lab is running a prevention trial using a drug meant to keep those beta cells from failing. Trial results are expected in December of next year. If the trial is successful, it will be possible for the first time to prevent diabetes in very high-risk women.