In 2015 Quebec doctors injected insulin-producing cells into a patient with the hope of treating her type 1 diabetes. The treatment which is much less risky and invasive than the more invasive organ transplant treatment is providing new hope for type 1 diabetics.
The patient began producing insulin on her own and no longer required injections.
Type 1 diabetes results from the pancreas’ inability to produce enough insulin. As a consequence, they must live their lives monitoring their blood sugar and injecting insulin to manage their blood sugar and prevent serious complications such as kidney failure, heart attack, and blindness.
Although collecting the islet cells from the pancreas of a deceased donor can be complicated. The procedure developed at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal took approximately one hour. The cells were injected a 50-year-old woman’s liver and just a few days after the procedure her life began to change for the better.
As the consequence, the patient began producing insulin on her own and no longer required injections.
