New achievement in
Pancreas Cell Transplants
New England Journal of Medicine released stunning results of Pancreas cell transplants. In this procedure doctors injected an average
of 350,000 islet cells directly into liver, a procedure
that does not require major surgery. After this the liver
started producing Insulin. This can have a far reaching
effect on the treatment of the diabetics especially the
Type I diabetes. Its too early for insulin injecting
diabetics to be happy. The real problem is to find source
for the islet cells of pancreas.
Eight patients with severe diabetes were
able to throw away their insulin for as long as 15 months
- after a new cell-transplant procedure. Before now,
transplants of insulin-producing pancreas cells, called
islet cells, have produced "dismal" results.
Islet cell transplants require whole
pancreases, from which the insulin-producing cells are
extracted. Each patient requires organs from at least two
cadaver donors, meaning, a very small number of patients
can benefit from this procedure. But researchers are
hopeful they can find other sources of the precious
cells, perhaps growing them from "stem" cells
that are capable of forming various tissues.
Because of the risks of side-effects posed by
anti-rejection drugs, the researchers at University of
Alberta in Edmonton did the procedure only in patients
with Type I diabetes, that was so severe that patients'
blood sugar couldn't be controlled even with regular
insulin shots. One woman, a junior high school teacher,
regularly fell into a diabetic coma.
That woman and seven others "quickly attained
insulin independence" after doctors injected an
average of 350,000 islet cells directly into their
livers, a procedure that does not require major surgery.
To achieve good control of blood sugar, seven patients so
far have required a second transplant, while an eighth
has required a third.
The first seven patients in the New England Journal
report have all been free of insulin injections an
average of nearly 12 months, with one patient maintaining
insulin-free status for almost 15 months. An eighth
patient, transplanted March 13, is also off insulin shots
with excellent sugar control.
Once researchers solve the problem of where to get
human islet cells in large quantities, the real benefit
of this islets cells transplant can be given to the
patients.
 
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