Revolutionary treatment transforms mother’s life Sensation Line Fitness

Revolutionary treatment transforms mother’s life

July 7th, 2011 Tyson Flood Leave a comment Go to comments

THE first Scot to receive a revolutionary cell transplant to treat diabetes has described how the operation is transforming her life after 32 years of suffering.

An hour after Kathleen Duncan had surgery to receive donated pancreatic cells at a pioneering centre in Edinburgh, she no longer needed the four insulin injections a day to keep her blood sugar levels steady and stop her from slipping into a coma.

The 52-year-old suffers from hypoglycaemic unawareness, which means there are no warnings signs before she has a hypoglaemic attack.

Around 2000 of the 28,000 people in Scotland with type 1 diabetes have the condition, which left Mrs Duncan living in fear that she would collapse alone at home.

The condition has also caused years of worry for husband Chris and son David, now 16, who helped to save her life when he was just nine. He got insulin and poured Lucozade into her mouth after she had an attack.

I used to wake up out of attacks and have no idea where I was or how I got there … my life has now totally changed

Mrs Duncan said her life had “totally changed” after she received the islet cell infusion during the operation in April.

This involves extracting small pockets of hormone-excreting cells from a deceased donor’s pancreas and injecting them into the recipient at the transplant unit at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

She said: “Before this treatment I felt absolutely helpless. I was so terrified David would come home from school to find me unconscious that I would go out all day, knowing that if I collapsed in a public place I would be taken to hospital.

“I used to ‘wake up’ out of attacks and have no idea where I was or how I got there. My life has totally changed since the transplants. I have more control over my diabetes, and I have the confidence to do everyday things and lead a practically normal life.

“I have my awareness back and no longer have to rely on insulin – I can tell if I am going to collapse and do something about it.”

Mrs Duncan, of Dunfermline, had two transplants and after the first her need for insulin halved. Not all patients will become insulin-dependent free.

Mrs Duncan added: “I would like to thank the donor’s family who gave me this opportunity. They had to make a difficult choice at a very sad time and I will be grateful to them for the rest of my life.”

The Scottish National Pancreatic Islet Transplant Programme was launched in November 2009. It uses a process that involves the complex preparation of cells extracted from a deceased donor’s pancreas at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service’s Islet Isolation Laboratory in Liberton, Edinburgh. The resulting infusions are injected into patients.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon yesterday said the treatment highlighted the importance of organ donation.

She said: “This service, funded to assess around 20 patients a year, of whom 10 to 12 would be suitable for islet transplantation, has shown how it has the potential to transform the lives of people with this condition.

“The ideal is to make them no longer dependent on insulin injections. Sadly, like all transplant programmes, the main challenge is the shortage of donor organs.

“That’s why, during UK Transplant Week, I would repeat my calls for people to sign up to the NHS organ donor register so that more lives can be saved and turned around.”

Mr John Casey, clinical lead for the Scottish Islet Transplant Programme, said: “This is an important step in the treatment of diabetes in Scotland.

“The improvement in the quality of life for patients is excellent and we hope that we can now offer this form of cell therapy to many, many more Scottish patients.”

The full impact of diabetes

Around 228,000 Scots have diabetes but the majority have type 2, which is more common in older and overweight people.
Some 28,000 have type 1, which develops when the cells which produce insulin are destroyed. Insulin is a hormone in the pancreas which helps bodies use glucose for energy. Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can make insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin produced fails to work properly. Both conditions cause glucose to build up in the blood rather than in the body’s cells, where it can be used as fuel for energy.
Type 1 diabetes is most often diagnosed in childhood and cannot be prevented. It is not known why the cells are damaged, although it is thought it could be caused by the body having an abnormal reaction to the cells.
People with type 1 diabetes must receive regular insulin injections. If blood glucose levels fall too low they are at risk of hypoglycaemia, or hypo, which can cause patients to become unconscious or have a fit.

Source: Diabetes UK

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