Preface

Over millennia, sharing the practical experience of one physician with others has been a proven way of disseminating best practices of the time with esteemed colleagues and teaching new generations of doctors. This selfless and generous sharing of knowledge is the cornerstone of teaching medical students and residents at the bedside and in classrooms, at local grand rounds and national conferences. The best way of acquiring clinical skills is to observe experienced physicians and to follow their example. Thus, learning from colleagues’ experience is a time-tested learning process.

This book sets out to accomplish exactly that—to facilitate the learning process by sharing unusual and interesting cases with a great number of readers. We are fully aware that the readers may have had or currently have similar cases in their own practice and have selected similar or different approaches to their cases. Regardless, good clinicians always learn from others, always sharpen their own thought process, and always improve their acumen and skills.

Within these pages, you will find a compilation of 49 interesting cases from various fields of diabetology followed by short editorial commentaries to emphasize the major “take home” points of each case. I wish to thank Drs. Mary Korytkowski from the University of Pittsburgh, Louis Phillipson from the University of Chicago, and Anne Peters from the University of Southern California for their editorial help and commentary. Their opinions were of great value to me and I am certain will be of tremendous help and value to readers.

I also wish to thank all senior physicians and fellows in training for bringing their interesting cases to our attention and sharing with us their thought processes in terms of diagnosis and management of these cases. This is exactly what makes this book so interesting!

Finally, I wish to thank the American Diabetes Association’s acquisition, publishing, and editorial staff for recognizing the need for this book and for helping us every step of the way to bring this book to light.

My outstanding agent, Ms. Joan Parker, deserves a special “Hooray”!

• Boris Draznin, MD, PhD

  The Celeste and Jack Grynberg Professor of Medicine

  University of Colorado School of Medicine