Oct 22, 2009 10:48 pm US/Pacific
Transplant May Reverse Type 1 Diabetes
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
A minimally invasive transplant could reverse type 1 diabetes in millions of people. Only a few medical centers in the world do this experimental procedure, including one in the Bay Area.
For a while, when Ken Reynolds of Contra Costa County got into his car, he felt apprehensive.
"I've gotten into a couple of accidents in vehicles," Reynolds said.
As a child, Reynolds was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. That means certain cells in the pancreas, contained in clusters called islets, don't make enough insulin.
However, even with insulin injections, his blood sugar levels fluctuated wildly - - and without warning.
One day, while Reynolds was driving, his blood sugars plummeted, and his car veered out of control.
"Crossing over the middle median, one street knocking over a sign, driving across an intersection through a red light, and hit a car, then drove over a small cliff," Reynolds said. "I ended up on top of a phone booth."
Shaken, Reynolds then surfed the web for a cure which he did not find. What he found was an experimental procedure that may reverse diabetes. The procedure is done at
UCSF Medical Center.
It involves a different kind of transplant: the injection of hundreds of thousands of islets, donated cells that work just fine.
The islets are harvested from a donor cadaver and then injected.
"There are about a million in a pancreas," said Dr. Andrew Pousselt, a transplant surgeon at UCSF. "When we isolate islets and really do a good job, and the organ is a very good organ, we can usually get about 600,000 of those."
Once transplanted, the cells begin to produce insulin, and that may reverse a patient's diabetes. It's unclear how long the diabetes will remain reversed.
Reynolds received his transplant in January 2009. He has been insulin free since February, and back in his car.
"It's just a huge sense of freedom," Reynolds said. "I'm just fine. I love it."
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