Curing Diabetes

Pancreas transplantation can improve the quality of life for your patient with Type1 diabetes by eliminating the need for insulin therapy, decreasing daily blood glucose measurements, and eliminating many diet restrictions. Transplantation also eliminates hypoglycemia.Pancreas transplantation is usually reserved for patients who will also receive a kidney transplant and immunosuppressive therapy. To be a candidate for pancreas and kidney transplantation, a patient must have a condition requiring kidney transplantation and must have significant complications with insulin therapy, such as frequent and severe hypoglycemia and insulin resistance. At some centers, surgeons transplant the pancreas alone to correct significant complications of diabetes in patients who don’t also have kidney disease.

Transplantation of the whole pancreas is the only therapy that reliably achieves euglycemia. However, the procedure is undesirable for most patients with Type 1 diabetes because of the risks of rejection and infection and because it requires lifelong immunosuppressive therapy.

As an alternative, a surgeon may transplant insulin-producing islet cells in a patient who is taking immuno suppressive drugs after receiving a transplanted kidney. In islet cell transplantation, the surgeon injects islet cells from the pancreas of a cadaver into the patient’s portal vein. The cells lodge in the liver and produce insulin, functioning as if they were in the pancreas. Before injection, the cells can be treated to destroy antigen-producing cells and reduce the risk of rejection.

Most patients continue to require insulin therapy after undergoing islet cell transplantation. For many, however, glucose control improves, and insulin requirements decrease. Some patients no longer need daily insulin injections.

Filed under: Diabetes Treatment