Specialized medical services

The ultimate goal of diabetes treatment is to maintain the same quality of life (QOL) in diabetes patients as in healthy people and ensure the same lifespan as healthy people. To that end, it is extremely important to prevent the development and progression of microvascular complications (retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy) peculiar to diabetes and arteriosclerotic diseases (coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease).

Since diabetes mostly progresses asymptomatically, there are some patients who cannot be proactive toward treatment, and by the time they have noticed it, complications have developed that are irreversible. Diabetes is a disease deeply involved in everyday life, but the entire body is adversely affected while the patient is unaware.

In Japan, diabetes (type 2 diabetes) and those likely to develop it are steadily increasing with changes in lifestyle such as disordered eating habits and decrease in amount of physical activity. Therefore, diet therapy is a major premise in the treatment of diabetes. However, providing a healthy diet every day is no easy matter. In addition, moderate exercise habits need to be incorporated into diabetes care.

In this way, everyday life is deeply involved in diabetes treatment, and it is extremely difficult for a diabetes specialist to provide adequate care alone. At the Diabetes Center, diabetes care is supported mainly by managerial dietitians and nurses who are Certified Diabetes Educators of Japan.

Features

In addition to the departments of Metabolic Medicine, Geriatrics and Hypertension, and Pediatrics, the Division of Nutritional Management and Diabetic Care & Outpatient Nursing cooperate to provide meticulous diabetes treatment.

In the Diabetes Treatment Guideline (edited by the Japan Diabetes Society), childhood diabetes and geriatric diabetes are treated as separate items as diabetes of each life stage, and the treatment management goals and nutritional guidance are partly different from those for normal adults. Therefore, the three departments of Pediatrics, Metabolic Medicine, and Geriatrics and Hypertension have established the Diabetes Center as a platform for the preventive treatment of diabetic complications according to life stage. The Diabetes Center's approach in anticipating life stages is unprecedented in Japan and abroad.

In recent years, new drugs for treating diabetes have been marketed one after another, and medical devices related to the treatment of diabetes are constantly being developed. Ingenious insulin pumps and subcutaneous continuous glucose meters will be introduced to medical treatment in the future. The Diabetes Center has established a system which can respond flexibly to such new devices.

Considerations in referring your patients to the Diabetes Center

For consultation, please contact Osaka University Hospital's Patient Support Center with a letter of referral from the patient's current medical facility or clinic for an appointment. For more information, please contact the outpatient clinic of one of the departments in charge (Metabolic Medicine, Geriatrics and Hypertension, Pediatrics).