Hope for Kind II diabetes sufferers with kidney-pancreas transplant at PGIMER Chandigarh : The Tribune India

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Naina Mishra
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 14th

PGIMER performed the first simultaneous pancreatic kidney transplant in a patient with type 2 diabetes with great success to keep the patient off insulin.

A 54-year-old patient from Roorkee was the first to receive PGI treatment. He was dialyzed three times a week and needed insulin and a blood sugar test three to four times a day.

The patient has had diabetes for the past 10 to 15 years and kidney failure for four years. He was started on dialysis for kidney failure and listed for a deceased donor kidney transplant.

Last month, a family from Kaithal, Haryana lost their 12-year-old child in a traffic accident and turned to the transplant coordinator to donate all of their organs, including the pancreas.

Dr. Ashish Sharma, nephrology and kidney transplant specialist at PGI, said: “When we first discussed the possibility of a simultaneous pancreatic kidney transplant, the patient felt it was a better solution than a kidney transplant alone. After the transplant, he can now eat whatever he wants and his blood sugar is well controlled without the need for insulin therapy. This patient shows that adding a pancreas transplant to a patient with diabetic kidney failure can prove to be a boon for those patients. “

“A successful pancreas transplant can also significantly reduce the cost of drugs such as insulin and other drug therapies used to treat diabetes alone. These costs can range from Rs. 3,000 to 5,000 per month for these patients,” he adds.

At present, due to the lack of trained transplant surgeons in this area, pancreatic utilization remains very poor, resulting in higher complications.

At PGI Chandigarh, 25 concurrent kidney and pancreas transplants were performed in patients with type 1 diabetes, but no such transplant was performed in patients with type 2 diabetes. The vast majority of patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney failure have a kidney transplant alone.

Due to the success of the pancreas transplant at the PGI, it was decided to initiate a simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplant also in type 2 patients. This was the first PGI concurrent pancreatic kidney transplant in a patient with type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Sanjay Badada, Associate Professor of Endocrinology at PGIMER, said, “Diabetes is fast becoming the leading cause of kidney failure in India. Diabetes as a cause of kidney failure not only reduces patient survival after a kidney transplant. Diabetes can also affect the newly transplanted kidney and lead to kidney failure again. “

A pancreas transplant was recommended in type I diabetic patients with kidney failure. However, patients with type II diabetes were prevented from having a pancreas transplant because it was assumed that these patients were insulin resistant and it would not make sense to perform the pancreas transplant in these people.

“However, in recent years this thinking has been challenged and some successful concurrent pancreatic kidney transplants have been performed in patients with type 2 diabetes in the US and other developed countries,” said Dr. Badada.