Islet Cell Transplants: Hope or Hype?
The headline doesn’t look terrific: “A Diabetes Treatment Fails to Live Up to Early Promise.” Today’s New York Times reports on results of the International Trial of the Edmonton Protocol for Islet Transplantation, which were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Although 58% of patients followed by the trial attained insulin independence after transplant, within two years 86% of islet cell transplant recipients had returned to regular insulin injections. The good news is that severe hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) episodes were reduced in those who received transplants. The treatment also improved long-term blood sugar control.
Is this progress towards a cure? Or just another dangled carrot for the millions of people living with diabetes? What do you think?
Comments
- At 02:14 PM on Tue, Oct 10, 2006 Rhonda wrote:
My son has been a Type 1 diabetic for the last 10 years since the age of 15 months. He is currently using a pump and has been better controlled with this, however, it is still a daily struggle to control blood sugars. I attended a lecture several years ago by a dr in my area who had been performing these with great success. However he did make a point that you are trading one disease for another with the immunosuppressive drug therapy. He also stated that he did not do transplants until the age of 18. Are there doctors who do this before age 18? I enjoyed reading of Jason's success with transplantation. We still pray for a cure, hoping for progess in stem cell research in the future.
- At 04:40 PM on Fri, Oct 6, 2006 Terry Fischer wrote:
We have to keep hoping that somewhere along the line islet cell transplants will work. Stem cell research needs to keep going also. 42 years ago when I first got diabetes they told me "Oh in 20 years they'll have a cure." Well I'm still waiting, but thank God for the insulin pump. That has really made my dlife better. Thanks.
- At 02:16 AM on Wed, Oct 4, 2006 Chrissie in Belgium wrote:
Today, this remains just another "dangled carrot". Maybe sometime in the future it will provide a CURE. Furthermore 18 of the 36 patients had to be hospitalized for side effects. Islet transplants require life-long immuno-repressive drugs. These are known to cause cancer. I don't want to exchange one disease for another......
- At 05:40 PM on Sat, Sep 30, 2006 Cynamon wrote:
All too often it seems that if something is not 100% a cure, it is pronounced a failure. This looks like HOPE to the 58% of now insulin independent people who have been recipients. It is a big step toward a cure and offers hope.
- At 09:04 AM on Sat, Sep 30, 2006 Jason Turner wrote:
I have had an Islet Cell transplant, and I would like to offer my opinion.
What most of those articles failed to mention, was the fact that there are actual people behind the numbers and the data.
I had my transplant in July 2005 in Edmonton, and things have been going very well for me. I am feeling great for the first time in many many years, and no longer have uncontrolable blood sugars. The quality of my life is so much better now then it was prior to the transplant - it sounds cliche to say - but I would have to say it has turned around completely.
Often to the media, it seems like the measure of success of the transplant is whether or not the patient is free of injections. Of all the other patients that I have talked to, this is one of the least important things. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to be off insulin after 24 years on it - but at the same time - I am used to taking 5 shots a day - and it doesn't matter if that continues.
What really matters - is no more scary lows. No more yo-yo of the blood sugars. No more reading so high that your meter doesn't measure it. No more danger of progressing complications from poor control. No more high HgA1C readings.
Sure I have to take immunosuppression - but I was well informed about the risks of that - and I decided that it was worth it to me. I am a lucky case though - in the fact that I have next to no side effects from the drugs.
The doctors, nurses and scientists who work in Edmonton are all a wonderful group of people, who work really hard to make us well.
A transplant has never been a cure in my opinion. It is a treatment option for some people like me, whose diabetes progresses to a stage where life becomes an overwhelming challenge.
- At 06:44 PM on Thu, Sep 28, 2006 Elizabeth wrote:
We are supposed to go talk to a doctor in Chicago who has done the islet cell transplants with success. My son is almost 7 and a type 1 diabetic. I had alot of hope for this, but now there are articles coming out this week showing that not all the proceedures are successful. I would hate to give my son false hope, but also love to have the chance for him to not need insulin shots again. Its going to be a tough call. I do think this is progress toward a cure though!
Hi this is mainly to Jason Turner but all other input it welcome. My boyfriend is a diabetic and has been for 8 years. Unfortunatley he has not had much control over this the whole time he ahs had it. I am looking into him getting an islet cell transplant but I have only gotten the same information like immunosuppressives and such. i need to know what we are looking at with cost and what all is involved, how do we go about getting this, etc. I need all the facts and I am getting nowhere. If somebody can please help me with this information I would be forever in your debt.