Posted on November 6, 2009 in Diabetes Treatment
In December 2008, a 54 year old woman from Victoria, Australia suffering from Type 1 Diabetes underwent Islet cell Transplantation. The operation done on experimental basis drastically changed her life. The doctors who performed the operation were amazed by the success of the effort. This article tries to gain further insight on how cell transplantation of the pancreas can impact the treatment of Type 1 Diabetes.
Benefits observed in the Women after Islet Cell Transplantation:
- The low blood sugar level attacks almost stopped.
- Only small fraction of the insulin taken earlier was required after the first transplantation.
- The second transplantation completed removed the need to inject insulin externally.
- The conditions of Type 1 Diabetic were well under control.
Why Islet cell Transplantation: The food we eat gets converted to glucose. But the presence of glucose once its dissolves in the blood should remain in control. The pancreas is the organ in our body which produces a substance called insulin hormone. This insulin hormone is produced by the beta cells and keeps the glucose level in the blood in check. It is also responsible in converting the glucose in to useful energy. When the pancreas no longer produce this hormone, a person gets Type 1 Diabetes. Patients suffering from this disorder have to inject insulin hormone externally everday to survive. Islet cell transplantation injects insulin hormone producing beta cells from a healthy person’s body to a Type 1 Diabetic patient’s body.
What is Islet Cell Transplantation: The Islet cells are a group of different types of cells found in the organ pancreas. In this group, the insulin producing beta cells are also present. When the beta cells from the pancreas of a healthy person enter in to the diabetic patient’s body, they quickly start producing insulin and replace the destroyed cells in the patient’s pancreas.
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