FORT WASHINGTON, PA — Clinical guidance presented at Office Practicum’s Engage 2026 conference contributed to the early diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes in a child, allowing treatment to begin before the onset of diabetic ketoacidosis, according to the healthcare technology company.
The case followed a keynote presentation by Herbert Bravo, MD, a pediatrician and president and co-founder of the Society for Innovation in Pediatrics, who urged pediatricians to screen children for Type 1 diabetes-related autoantibodies to identify the disease before symptoms develop.
According to Office Practicum, Lisa Cronin, MD, of North Pinellas Children’s Medical Center adopted the screening approach after attending the conference. Shortly afterward, she identified a child with early-stage Type 1 diabetes before the patient developed diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially life-threatening complication.
“Preventing DKA in this patient is one of the things I have been most excited about in a long time,” Cronin said. “I plan to continue screening patients according to Dr. Bravo’s recommendations.”
The early diagnosis also made the patient eligible for treatment with TZield, a therapy intended to delay the onset of clinical Type 1 diabetes by preserving insulin-producing beta cells. According to the company, that treatment would not have been available had the disease progressed further before diagnosis.
During his presentation, Bravo said advances in screening and immune-targeting therapies are shifting pediatric care from treating Type 1 diabetes after symptoms emerge to identifying the disease earlier and intervening before serious complications occur.
“Together, we are proving that pediatricians can do more than diagnose Type 1 diabetes — we can help prevent its most devastating consequences,” Bravo said.
Office Practicum said the case illustrates how physician education can influence clinical practice by accelerating adoption of emerging screening recommendations and expanding access to earlier intervention for pediatric patients.
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