JOIN US Imagine a five year life free from insulin injections and dietary restrictions. Yes, type-1 diabetic patients can now have pancreatic islet transplantation at an affordable cost at Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG) in Hyderabad.
The first such operation is expected to take place here within a week.
“Islet cells are taken from the pancreas of a cadaver or living donor, and are injected into diabetic patients; these islets then begin to produce and release insulin, which lets type-1 diabetic patients live without their daily insulin injections. Similar to other transplants, immune suppressants will have to be used as the human body naturally rejects such implants,” Dr Shiva Prasad of AIG said.
“However, the main problem with this process is immune-rejection, which can be solved by using theracite implantation where islets are sealed in a small cell and introduced in the body of the patient.
As a result of this, the body will not reject the islets. Therefore, islets can be extracted from donors or patients (with their consent), isolated, cultured and multiplied, in order to use them on diabetic patients thus solving their problem on a long-term basis,” added Dr Prasad.
According to him, the process is in vogue in the US and Europe but is expensive. “At AIG, we are trying to further reduce the cost,” Dr Prasad said. “At present, it costs around Rs 2 lakh and patient can forget about the diabetic regime for at least four to five years,” Dr D Nageswar Reddy of AIG said.