ABSTRACT
The discovery of insulin by Banting and Best in 1922 was a revolutionary breakthrough in the treatment and outcome of patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus, a previously lethal disorder due to the development of ketoacidosis. In the late 19th century, Claude Bernard described the association of acute trauma with the occurrence of hyperglycemia, which was considered to be an adaptive stress response proceeding irrespective of underlying diabetes. In addition to trauma, hyperglycemia also commonly develops during other types of critical illness. Whereas hyperglycemia in critical illness was treated conventionally only when blood glucose levels became excessively elevated, the beneficial effects of treating even moderate hyperglycemia in critically ill patients have recently been established (1).
