The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service has opened a new laboratory in Edinburgh to offer about 12 people islet cell transplant therapy on an annual basis.
Islet cell transplant therapy is a pioneering treatment for diabetes which the charity Diabetes UK partly funded in its research stages.
Islets are groups of cells in the pancreas which contain the insulin-producing beta cells.
In people with Type 1 diabetes, the beta cells are destroyed so they must take insulin by injection to keep healthy.
This means having to estimate how much insulin is needed and for some people it may be very difficult to achieve stable blood glucose levels.
A tiny number of Type 1 diabetics can benefit from islet transplantation, a procedure in which a person's destroyed islet cells are replaced using cells harvested from donor pancreases.
Due to the fact that the drugs required to prevent rejection of the transplant can have serious side effects, the procedure is presently only suitable for diabetics who have severe problems controlling their diabetes, experience innumerable hypos with no or minimal warning, which can be life threatening, thus greatly reducing their quality of life.
Scotland’s Minister for Public Health, Shona Robinson, said: "I'm delighted to be launching this groundbreaking programme, which will be of great benefit to some groups of people living with Type 1 diabetes."
Islet Cell Transplantation Takes Place in Scotland
Thu, 19 Nov 2009
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