This is a first in France. At the beginning of August, the transplant teams at the Edouard-Herriot hospital in Lyon (Rhône) carried out a simultaneous transplant of a kidney and pancreatic cells – the islets of Langerhans which produce insulin – on a 52-year-old patient, suffering from type 1 diabetes.
Il was 32 years old when his diabetes broke out in 2004. His state of health deteriorated little by little: pain in his legs, irritated nerves, loss of vision – corrected by an operation – to the point of insufficiency. renal
specify the Hospices Civils de Lyon. Since 2020, he has been placed on dialysis.
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The grafts came from the same donor. The kidney transplant took place on August 4. In the meantime, the pancreas had been transported to the University Hospitals of Geneva (Switzerland), where the islets of Langerhans were extracted from the pancreas, purified and counted. The injection – that’s the term – into the pancreas of the Lyon patient was carried out on August 6 by professors Emmanuel Morelon and Laurent Milot.
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After five months of convalescence, the patient is on the verge of being permanently cured of his diabetes
say the Hospices Civils de Lyon. Hope for the 200,000 French people suffering from type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease which can cause serious complications affecting the heart, blood vessels, eyes, nerves and kidneys and which today requires treatment with insulin for life.
This double graft opens up invaluable perspectives
estimate the Hospices Civils de Lyon. The hope of putting an end to dialysis, advanced kidney failure and, in fine, diabetes.
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