Comprehensive care essential to success in diabetic nephropathy.

Planning treatment for the diabetic with progressive renal insufficiency requires allowance for the high probability that coincident multisystem disease will develop. By establishing a team approach, the patient is protected from the stress of having conflicting treatment protocols prescribed by physicians concerned with only one organ or system. The majority of uremic diabetics can survive at least the first three years of dialysis or renal transplantation with preserved sight and intact limbs. It may be anticipated that the proportion of nephropathic diabetics who attain rehabilitation will continue to increase.