Pioneering 45-minute treatment for diabetes holds prospect of cure

[Al-khiyal]

Pioneering 45-minute treatment for diabetes holds prospect of cure

February 12, 2008 -- A pioneering transplant treatment for people suffering the worst effects of type 1 diabetes was approved for use on NHS patients yesterday, encouraging doctors who are developing the technique to talk of an eventual cure. Health ministers said they would fund six centres to inject pancreas cells into diabetes patients' livers, stimulating the production of insulin.

About 250,000 people across Britain have type 1 diabetes, a condition often diagnosed in childhood and unconnected to the individual's weight or lifestyle. It develops when the body cannot produce the natural hormone insulin. Most manage the condition with daily insulin injections, exercise and a careful diet. But hundreds of people risk blackouts and hospital admission because they cannot detect any early warning signals that blood sugar levels are getting dangerously low.

Research funded by the charity Diabetes UK has identified a transplant procedure, which can take just 45 minutes, to inject cells from the islets of Langerhans tissue, a hormone-producing cluster in the pancreas, which can be extracted from a dead donor. The islets include beta cells which make insulin. Once injected, they allow the recipient to live a healthy life with fewer or no injections.

Islet transplantation is regarded by the government as a suitable alternative to whole-organ pancreas transplants because it is less invasive and can be considered for patients with cardiac disease who would be unfit for open surgery.

Diabetes UK said charities had funded 12 islet transplants over six years. Funding approved by the government yesterday will increase the rate to 20 in the first year, rising to about 80 in subsequent years. Eventually, about 2,500 people at risk of hypoglycaemic attack may benefit from the technique.

The health minister, Ann Keen, said: "In developing islet transplants ... the NHS is at the forefront of worldwide clinical innovation. This programme will ensure that people who have been unable to treat hypoglycaemia with conventional therapies will benefit from significant improvements to their quality of life."

From April the government will fund two islet isolation laboratories, one run jointly by King's College and the Royal Free hospitals in London, and the other by Oxford Radcliffe hospitals. The transplants will be performed at six hospitals in London, Oxford, Newcastle, Bristol and Manchester. A separate centre may open in Edinburgh next year.

The chief executive of Diabetes UK, Douglas Smallwood, said: "The department's decision to fund this programme will be life-changing for some people who suffer from the most serious effects of hypoglycaemia. Resolving the worst cases could save the NHS a significant amount of money, as hypoglycaemic attacks cost £15m a year in hospitalisations and ambulances alone."

The technique was pioneered in Canada and developed in London by a multidisciplinary team at King's College hospital.

[Bent_Bladi]

I know and dearly love people with type 1 diabetes and people with hypoglycemia... Allah yi7faz those who can develop a cure.

Wow, a cure - is there a cure for anything in the first place... this would be the first one, right? wowowowowowowow

[amalgamate]

Injecting pancreatic cells into the liver? Incredible! I'd definately like to read up on how and why this method actually works.