Islet Transplantation is for people suffering from type 1 diabetes.

Immunosuppressive or anti-rejection drugs are needed to keep the transplanted islets functioning. Long-term effects these drugs may be very harmful.

However, transplanting islet cells has several advantages over transplanting a pancreas. First, unlike the pancreas transplant, an islet transplant is a minor surgical procedure, is less expensive, and is probably safer.

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Lavanay Bhadwal
Diabetes Symptoms | How to Reverse Diabetes

The islet transplation has sounded like the answer to juvenile diabetes for many years, but it was never developed sufficiently to help anyone. I wonder if intensive research is still being conducted on this approach for a cure to diabetes. You never read about it anymore. It seems like all the hope is centered around stem cell procedures. But, stem cell research is stalled for now.

I don't think there has been enough research done on this to know for sure if the benefits outweigh the risks, but it does sound very promising for some people. I am usually scared to try anything new until after it has been in usew for a while so I will know if anyone has had adverse reactions.

I'm always suspicious of even a "minor" surgical procedure - any surgery is risky and should be undertaken carefully...

I haven't heard much more on this but who knows? Maybe the focus will shift now that the stem cell research is stalled for a bit.... best to explore all avenues and not put all your eggs in one basket, so to speak!

I have to agree with the Joslin center.
Islet transplants may seem like a good idea. especially in thos with Brittle to give them a fighting chance. the prednisone to prevent rejection howevern it adds the extrta burden of higher glucose levels.
One also has to consider that eventually these beta cells will also give out.
everything has a life and transplanted cells only have so much to give. Which is why those have receieved them are stillw ithn a 7 year window with events being seen as a decline in insulin production.
So they are still on insulin within 7 years as of right now.

I for one woudl only ocnsider it if they could extend the life of the cells for 10 years. I woudl willfully watch everything I ate so as to prolong it. But many simply feel that " hey I got new cells I can eat everything and anything I want".. and so it goes.........

It does feel like another case where we here the best possible outcome of the research but there is no real follow up. Sometime I wish we coulf get more realistic science reporting with a good indication of how long it reallt takes to get to human trial let alone therapeutic outputs--and also some idea of how to encourage research in these areas.

I looked at teh CMEs on tranplant and I doscivere dsomething very interesting, many diabetic thatw ent through the tranplantatin had a major problem.. they thought they were cured and dint follwo a diet, nor routine for diabetes.
One thing that we have go to rememer is that dibeets affects everything, its not just teh organ it is in teh genticso fothsoe who ahve through familial traits, and its in addition to those who ahve itcaused upon them. If its acar accident, i can understand not following.
But thsoe who receiev the organ transplat or piggy back went totally bonkers wiht eatingeverything they wanted, taking only minimal medicationa nd not supplementing their new pancrease with needs and meds. So it was a doomed epxperince ofr so many to begin with.
I think prior to getting either transplant or piggy back the eprson shoudl ahve to go through all kinds of new managment techniques and comply, other wise its a waste.

Islet transplantation does not involve any sugery, rather a catheter is inserted into the portal vein and the beta cells are infused with something akin to an IV drip. However, the islets take up residence in the liver, not the pancreas, and some have questioned whether this location is the best place for the transplanted cells to take up residence.

The bigger issue involves the immunosuppression, however, patients who have had islet transplants agree almost universally that the drugs they take for immunospression are no more dangerous than continuing to replace insulin from exogenous sources. It is, in principle, virtually impossible to know for certain how much insulin is needed to 'cover' a particular meal in order to achieve a reasonable blood glucose level within an hour or two after eating. Non-diabetics' beta cells routinely and automatically manage this by continual glucose level monitoring and insulin release. All such decisions by a diabetic patient must be based on experience and training (i.e., at the direction of a physician, or CDE) and based on the individual experience of the patient. But patients cannot even measure the presence of other hormones which impact the amount of insulin necessary, so to some extent, it is always some degree educated guesswork. For that reason, some islet transplant patients have said that they would rather take their chances with an increased risk for cancer over slipping into hypoglycemia without warning anytime.

Something to think about ...

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Type 1 since September 1976 (dx'd age 7). Now age 37. Blog: http://sstrumello.blogspot.com/. Yahoo Group: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/groups/DiabetesPortal. NYC Advocacy Website:
http://www.stopnyca1ctracking.org.

I have not seen any published, peer-reviewed clinical evidence of the issue you just described in medical journals, but perhaps you are aware of something and would be willing to share the references to these journals? In fact, UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) has considerable evidence and documentation to suggest that type 1 patients who underwent pancreas transplantation generally did NOT experience any statistically significant weight gain which would be associated with, as you call it, "going totally bonkers and eating everything they wanted" if this was indeed a widespread problem.

However, I think that its not difficult to imagine that after a lifetime of being denied the very basics of being able to eat without having to measure what is being eaten or dose insulin for it, it seems very likely that patients are very likely to enjoy the newfound freedom that they have long been denied. This is not a disorder, but human nature. A better test would be to ask whether the nondiabetic population could comply with the regimen of injections, restrictions and uncertainty that is expected of the diabetic population? After all, it is well documented that the co-morbidities of depression, eating disorders and family dysfunction have a statistically higher incidence among patients with diabetes, suggesting that these behaviors are not abnormal, but human nature.

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Type 1 since September 1976 (dx'd age 7). Now age 37. Blog: http://sstrumello.blogspot.com/. Yahoo Group: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/groups/DiabetesPortal. NYC Advocacy Website:
http://www.stopnyca1ctracking.org.