Clinical researches on islet transplantation in 20 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Abstract

20 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus have been grafted with short-term cultured islet tissue of several fetal pancreases intramuscularly (7 cases) and intraperitoneally (13 cases). After transplantation, all of them took specially prepared traditional Chinese medicine daily and except 7 recipients one dose of antihuman thymocyte globulin as immunosuppressive therapy. Before transplantation, their daily insulin requirements ranged from 40 to 84 u but diabetes was mostly not well controlled. After transplantation, all but one recipients had good transplanting effect. The daily insulin requirements of these 19 efficiently transplanted diabetics had been reduced by 30–90 % in comparison with those before transplantation, in 13 of which the daily insulin requirements had been reduced by more than 50% (5 cases more than 80 %), while their fasting plasma glucose levels, except a few, remained normal or even subnormal. In some patients the postprandial plasma glucose levels remained less than 150 mg/d1. 2 patients had become noninsulin-dependent for a short time. 19 successfully transplanted diabetics have been followed up for 2 –11 months after transplantation, and their islet grafts are all working well without any sign of rejection.

Keywords

islet transplantation / diabetes mellitus / insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

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