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Islet Cell Transplantation: Breakthroughs in Treatment for Patients with Type 1 Diabetes

Recorded on 12/5/2007

PROGRAM DETAILS:

It is shocking when you think about the 21 million people in the United States who have diabetes and have anticipated a cure for so long that has yet to come. Research breakthroughs in diabetes show that a procedure called the islet cell transplantation could give diabetics hope. Those suffering with type 1diabetes do not produce any insulin, which causes extremely high or low blood sugar levels.

The Islet transplantation depends on the removal of insulin-secreting islet cells from a deceased donor's pancreas then injecting the cells into the liver of a patient with type 1 diabetes. Islet cell transplants are not a cure for type 1 diabetes but have shown significant potential to control the disease.

In this inspiring Patient Power program, Host Andrew Schorr and Dr. Fouad Kandeel, director of the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at City of Hope National Medical Center, speak directly to patients with diabetes and offer inspiring words of hope that a cure is not far off in the future.

Dr. Kandeel says “I believe that there is significant progress being made almost every week in the field of diabetes research both for type 1 diabetes and type 2. Certainly in the case of trying to generate the islets and trying to improve the efficiency of islet transplantation, and expand the islets within the body of the individual who receives them after you give them a single islet transplant, are all very promising approaches.”

Dr. Kandeel explains how exciting the progress in islet transplantation research is in helping to control the complications of this diabetes. He goes on to explain what stem cell transplantation is doing for patients with type 2 diabetes, and how insulin pumps and the artificial pancreas are changing conventional thinking in the world of diabetes.

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EXPERTS & GUESTS:
Fouad Kandeel, M.D., Ph.D.
Director of the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, City of Hope
Dr. Kandeel is Director of the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, overseeing the departmental clinical and research programs. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator on the multi-center islet transplantation trial to determine the safety and efficacy of islet cell transplantation as a treatment for patients with Type 1 diabetes. Dr. Kandeel completed his residency at Birmingham and Midland Hospital... more >

TRANSCRIPT:

  1. Introduction
  2. Etiology of Type I Diabetes
  3. Pancreas, Insulin, Diabetes, and Diabetes Complications
  4. Islet Cells and Islet Cell Transplantation
  5. Who Qualifies for the Islet Transplantation Study?
  6. Organ Donation and Islet Cells
  7. Stem Cell Transplantation in Patients with Type II Diabetes
  8. Research to Generate Islet Cells
  9. Insulin Pumps and the Artificial Pancreas
  10. Future Research in Managing and Curing Diabetes

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