Yes, pancreas and islet transplants are the only treatments that can cure” type 1 diabetes. A cure means that you no longer have to inject insulin or balance food, exercise, and insulin as long as the transplant works. For ESRD patients with type 1 diabetes, combining a pancreas transplant with a kidney transplant is now routine at most U.S. hospitals. If you are scheduled for a kidney transplant, check with your doctor about getting a pancreas as well. If it is not offered at your hospital, you may want to locate a center that does. Pancreas-kidney recipients are not only dialysis free but also insulin free. The pancreas usually comes from a cadaver and the kidney from a living donor. It is also possible to transplant one kidney and half of a pancreas from a living donor.
In one remarkable series of 995 patients with diabetes, function of both organs one year after the transplant was 84%. More than 90% of pancreas-kidney recipients in a worldwide registry were alive at one year, more than 80% had functioning kidney grafts, and more than 70% no longer required insulin. Whether having normal blood glucose levels from the pancreas transplant will stop the progression of diabetic vascular complications is now a major research question. The increasingly better prognosis for people with diabetic kidney disease shows that we are making steady progress against this disease.
Related posts:
- Pancreas Transplantation – What You Should Know
- Pancreas or Beta Cell Transplantation for Diabetes
- What is Hyperfiltration?
- FAQ about Transplantation
- The Future of Diabetes Treatment
- Islet Cell Transplantation – What You Need to Know
- Medications for Type 1 Diabetes – A Brief History
- Eye Disease Caused by Diabetes
- Biguanides for Type 2 Diabetes
- Diabetic Nephropathy (Kidney Damage) – Symptoms, Warning Signs and Treatment
