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Fancy that.
An interesting article from ABC's STAT Medical News by Joanna Schaffhausen (ABC News). I know that some people on my friends list will be very interested. I should probably ask my aunt if she's seen it, too.
"CELL TRANSPLANT OFFERS TEMPORARY DIABETES CURE Transplanting islet cells from the pancreases of deceased donors into people with type 1 diabetes will free many of them from insulin — but only for a short time. A new report from the largest and most pioneering group of doctors involved in this work — at the University of Alberta — finds that the treatment doesn't work for everyone. Out of 36 people, 21 stopped needing insulin at some point after the transplant. But after two years, most — 76 percent — needed insulin again. However, there is one potential lingering benefit to the islet cell transplants. Some patients who had to return to insulin still had enough function in their transplanted islet cells that they were protected against severe drops in blood sugar levels. These results were published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine."
Even if it's temporary, two years of normal pancreatic function ain't bad at all, and the long-term benefit of an extra safety buffer against blood crashes is nothing to sneeze at. If doctors can develop better methods for harvesting islet cells - or, better yet, cultivate them in sufficient quantities - biannual cell transplants could replace insulin injections for many people with Type I diabetes. Of course, it will take a few years at least before anything like that is possible, and I don't know how much it costs. From what I can see, though, it's a pretty nifty idea deserving of further research.
"CELL TRANSPLANT OFFERS TEMPORARY DIABETES CURE Transplanting islet cells from the pancreases of deceased donors into people with type 1 diabetes will free many of them from insulin — but only for a short time. A new report from the largest and most pioneering group of doctors involved in this work — at the University of Alberta — finds that the treatment doesn't work for everyone. Out of 36 people, 21 stopped needing insulin at some point after the transplant. But after two years, most — 76 percent — needed insulin again. However, there is one potential lingering benefit to the islet cell transplants. Some patients who had to return to insulin still had enough function in their transplanted islet cells that they were protected against severe drops in blood sugar levels. These results were published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine."
Even if it's temporary, two years of normal pancreatic function ain't bad at all, and the long-term benefit of an extra safety buffer against blood crashes is nothing to sneeze at. If doctors can develop better methods for harvesting islet cells - or, better yet, cultivate them in sufficient quantities - biannual cell transplants could replace insulin injections for many people with Type I diabetes. Of course, it will take a few years at least before anything like that is possible, and I don't know how much it costs. From what I can see, though, it's a pretty nifty idea deserving of further research.
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What would be really neat would be making new islet cells out of my own cells so they wouldn't be rejected as foreign. Did I hear someone say Stem Cells?
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http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2006/09/27/hscout535181.html
Yes, I'm a med student getting her health information from Comcast and google.