A simultaneous kidney and pancreatic islet transplant: a first in France took place at the Edouard Herriot hospital in Lyon. Meeting with Christophe, diabetic, first French patient treated by this medical protocol.
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This is a first in France that was carried out in August 2024 the transplant teams at the Edouard Herriot hospital in Lyon: a simultaneous kidney and pancreatic islet transplant. Christophe, a winemaker from 52 years old, living in Val d’Oingt (Rhône) is the first French person to benefit from this technique of transplanting pancreas islets, known as Langerhans.
Five months after his double transplant, Christophe and the transplant team at the Edouard Herriot Hospital
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© France 3 Rhône Alpes
Diabetic diagnosed in 2004, on dialysis since 2020, Christophe recounts the daily struggle of peritoneal dialysis every night at home. “The fear of having a hypoglycemic attack during the working day when I was on my tractor, the nighttime awakenings when the machine went into safety mode. We don’t realize it, but diabetes destroys…“
-Soft-spoken, clear-eyed, Christophe is not the type to complain. But we understand that he had difficult days before he was offered this transplant. “I don’t know if you imagine what it’s like to sleep with a pipe in your stomach… To go on a weekend, you have to drag the machine, don’t forget anything. It’s a big constraint. Even if it allows me to survive, I wouldn’t have lasted very long. Mentally I began to no longer bear it, even though I knew that a transplant would arrive one day or another.“
If he is a candidate for a kidney transplant, he does not wish to apply for a pancreas transplant because of the risks associated with this major surgery. “When they told me about the pancreas, I was scared because if there are complications, it ends badly. It’s dangerous, even though I was willing, it scared me.“
At the end of 2023, still waiting, we talked to him about a new protocol: the islet transplant of Langerhans, likely to effectively replace pancreas transplantation. “When it was offered to me, I didn’t hesitate for a minute. The first time I woke up at home after the transplant, when I touched my stomach and there was no more tube, I cried. This operation changed my life.”
“For the moment the blood tests that I take every week are good. Afterwards you must not be stupid, even after the transplant, you must not gorge yourself on sugar. Now eating normally, giving myself a little insulin in the evening, everything is fine. Even though physically I’m not 20 anymore…“
Any projects? Professionally speaking, not really anymore, but on a personal level yes. Going on vacation without the machine for example. A sort of rebirth after the injustice of illness for this man who, by his own admission, has never abused anything…
