The Japanese Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association (JPITA) is preparing for the nation's first transplantation of pancreatic islets from a brain-dead donor to a patient with Type 1 diabetes, it was learned Saturday.
The preparation has been started at a time when transplantation of pancreatic islets, which make insulin, from patients dead from cardiopulmonary arrest will be resumed in June for the first time in five years.
Because the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said transplant of pancreatic islet or Langerhans from a brain-dead patient would be approved if consent from the donor's family is obtained, the JPITA is planning to complete preparations for an actual transplant from a brain-dead donor within this fiscal year.
Pancreatic islet transplantation aims to treat patients with advanced Type 1 diabetes, which can cause hypoglycemic shock. The number of patients with Type 1 diabetes is said to be 100,000 or more in the country.
The transplantation of pancreatic islets to treat Type 1 diabetes, which is performed by infusing pancreatic islets from a dead donor into the liver of a recipient, started in Japan in 2004 because the treatment is easier on patients than transplantation of the pancreas itself. If the transplant is successful, patients can stop taking daily injections of insulin, a kind of hormone that lowers blood sugar levels.
Read more: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120512003015.htm
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