33^rd European Diabetes Congress

Transplantation/ Immunology

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Getting a new heart, liver, kidney, lung, or other organ can save your life. Sometimes, it can also lead to type 2 diabetes. Many people can stop taking steroids after 6 months or so. This may solve the problem. If scientists can develop safe immunosuppressant’s that always work, then many people with type 1 diabetes may choose to have pancreas transplants. Until then, many doctors think islet transplants are a better option even after performing clinical trials on islet transplants. Islets are clusters of cells in the pancreas that make insulin. In people with type 1 diabetes, islet cells are destroyed. Only 1-2% of the pancreas is made up of islet cells. In pancreatic islet transplantation, cells are taken from a donor pancreas and transferred into another person. Once implanted, the new islets begin to make and release insulin. Researchers hope that islet transplantation will help people with type 1 diabetes live without daily injections of insulin. A transplant of the pancreas is usually reserved for those with serious complications. Pancreas transplants are most often done when a patient also receives a new kidney. The pancreas transplant adds little further risk in this situation and offers big benefits. However, transplant surgery is risky. Each person needs to carefully weigh the potential benefits and risks. Xenotransplantation for the treatment of type 1 diabetes is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another. Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenografts or xenotransplants. A bolus dose is insulin that is specifically taken at meal times to keep blood glucose levels under control following a meal. A bolus dose is insulin that is specifically taken at meal times to keep blood glucose levels under control following a meal. Bolus insulin needs to act quickly and so short acting insulin or rapid acting insulin will be used where as Conventional insulin therapy is a therapeutic regimen for treatment of diabetes mellitus which contrasts with the newer intensive insulin therapy.