Transplant procedure could aid diabetics

Mon, 19 May 2008
According to a recent report in the Welsh media, a pancreatic transplant procedure could aid diabetic patients .

A pancreatic transplant could help to cure type 1 diabetics who otherwise must rely on daily insulin injections to survive. One Welsh patient, who had a combined kidney and pancreatic transplant, spoke of her joy at no longer being diabetic.

However, experts at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, pointed out that the procedure could not be classified as a cure, because it only suits certain type 1 diabetics. Around 30 people have had the procedure since the hospital began offering it in 2004.

The lead specialist in transplantation at Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, Argiris Asdgrakis, reportedly commented: "If we treated all people with type 1 diabetes with transplants we wouldn’t have enough organs to go around – most can be treated well with insulin and not all suffer these advanced complications. But we also do not want to expose those people with type 1 diabetes, who do not get kidney failure, to the anti-rejection drugs, which have their own side-effects ."

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