MRI may help diagnose, treat diabetes

BOSTON, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Physicians may be able to use magnetic resonance imaging to help early diagnosis, staging and treatment of diabetes, U.S. researchers said.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston said with the non-invasive MRI, physicians would have the ability to evaluate beta cell mass, a major factor of insulin secretion that is significantly reduced in type 2 diabetes and almost gone in type 1 diabetes.

"We are also able to detect inflammation of the pancreas and vascular changes associated with type one and type two diabetes," lead author Dr. Anna Moore said in a statement. "This opens a huge area that is closed right now. Knowing the number of functional beta cells left would allow physicians to develop the most appropriate treatment plans for their patients."

The study is published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.