I heard sth about pancreas transplant.

Ly_atdia

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Type of diabetes
Type 2
Can anyone explain the pancreas transplant?
Is it good?
Is it mean you are no longer a diabetic?
 

LittleGreyCat

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Only available as a last resort.
Usually combined with a kidney transplant.
Usually for long term insulin dependant (T1 usually) who are on dialysis.

You are no longer diabetic but you are on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of your life which in turn means you have a compromised immune system.

Better to control your diabetes if you can and not destroy your body to the stage when you need a transplant to save your life.

You don't usually qualify for a pancreas transplant on its own as far as I know because you can use insulin to control your diabetes.
 
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My understanding is the same as @LittleGreyCat.
I am curious though - as type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, why does the body not kill off the insulin producing cells in the new pancreas?
 
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azure

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My understanding is the same as @LittleGreyCat.
I am curious though - as type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, why does the body not kill off the insulin producing cells in the new pancreas?

I always assumed it's because the new pancreas isn't 'self', and also that the anti-rejection drugs damp the immune system right down.
 

Ly_atdia

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77
Type of diabetes
Type 2
So who need it the most? T1 or T2!
Can the procedure done only for pancreas not kidney?
 

LittleGreyCat

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4,233
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
My understanding is the same as @LittleGreyCat.
I am curious though - as type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, why does the body not kill off the insulin producing cells in the new pancreas?

The body would kill of the entire transplant if it could, as the immune system would rightly see it as a foreign invader.
That is why you are on immune system suppressants for the rest of your life, to stop your body killing it (and by extension, yourself).
 
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LittleGreyCat

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4,233
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
So who need it the most? T1 or T2!
Can the procedure done only for pancreas not kidney?

Are you about to die because your pancreas has failed and no other therapy can reasonably prolong your life?

If not, you are not in line for a transplant because there is a critical shortage of donors for all organs and a long waiting list.
This is made even harder because the tissue type of the donor has to match yours.

In an ideal world with dead bodies strewn around just waiting for their organs to be harvested a healthy diabetic might be able to have a transplant.

I would still think long and hard about it, because transplant surgery is non-trivial and you are also at risk of infection for the rest of your life because you are having to suppress your immune system.

Surgical techniques make a transplant possible.

Morality in general makes sure that the truly needy are at the front of the queue.
 
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The body would kill of the entire transplant if it could, as the immune system would rightly see it as a foreign invader.
That is why you are on immune system suppressants for the rest of your life, to stop your body killing it (and by extension, yourself).
I understood the immune system suppressants held back my body from killing the foreign body. I guess someone who had a liver transplant would take something similar.
I wondered whether the type 1 diabetes nasties in my body would also want to kill off the insulin producing cells as it did on my own pancreas. If not, why do we not prescribe immune system suppressants for people who are first diagnosed with type 1 and still in their honeymoon phases to stop their diabetes nasties killing off the remaining insulin producing cells?
 
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Ly_atdia

Well-Known Member
Messages
77
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Are you about to die because your pancreas has failed and no other therapy can reasonably prolong your life?

If not, you are not in line for a transplant because there is a critical shortage of donors for all organs and a long waiting list.
This is made even harder because the tissue type of the donor has to match yours.

In an ideal world with dead bodies strewn around just waiting for their organs to be harvested a healthy diabetic might be able to have a transplant.

I would still think long and hard about it, because transplant surgery is non-trivial and you are also at risk of infection for the rest of your life because you are having to suppress your immune system.

Surgical techniques make a transplant possible.

Morality in general makes sure that the truly needy are at the front of the queue.

Okay then.
I just ask for more info
 

azure

Expert
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9,780
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
I understood the immune system suppressants held back my body from killing the foreign body. I guess someone who had a liver transplant would take something similar.
I wondered whether the type 1 diabetes nasties in my body would also want to kill off the insulin producing cells as it did on my own pancreas. If not, why do we not prescribe immune system suppressants for people who are first diagnosed with type 1 and still in their honeymoon phases to stop their diabetes nasties killing off the remaining insulin producing cells?

Because the disadvantages would outweighs any advantages. You'd have to put your immune system pretty much out of action to attempt to protect your remaining islets, putting you at risk of something nasty taking advantage of that.

Not to mention the potential side effects of the drugs themselves.
 

LittleGreyCat

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Messages
4,233
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
Okay then.
I just ask for more info
Sorry.
A bit sensitive about it.
My nephew nearly died before he managed to get a transplant.
 

alf_Josiah

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Anti rejection drugs are really bad news, how do I know . Because I had a liver transplant and I take them. Constant blood tests, regular hospital visits and horrendous side effects. Injecting insulin and keeping your own pancreas is much better in my opinion.
 

EllieM

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I'm assuming that a pancreas transplant wouldn't help a T2, as their problem is not a lack of insulin but insulin resistance....

Also, the pancreas produces a lot more than just insulin, so I'd be reluctant to remove a (mostly) working pancreas and replace it with a substitute if insulin was still available as an option. My sympathy goes out to those with type 3c diabetes (why the c, is there an a and b?), I can't imagine how difficult is must be to cope without all the other good stuff that a pancreas does...