Connect
Diabetes is a chronic condition that impairs the body's ability to regulate blood sugar due to inadequate insulin production. Producing insulin is a function of the pancreas — a long, flat gland that sits behind the stomach in the upper abdomen.
People with diabetes can experience significant complications from the disease, including heart disease, chronic kidney disease, nerve damage and vision loss. While advances have been made in diabetes treatments, many people with diabetes struggle with the disease.
"Diabetes is an abnormality in consuming or metabolizing blood glucose," says Dr. Tambi Jarmi, a Mayo Clinic nephrologist. "So diabetic patients have a hard time adjusting their blood sugar to the level that their cells needed. It could be a result of a deficiency in the production of the insulin that comes from the pancreas or it could be a result of resistance to that insulin."
To restore normal insulin production and improve blood sugar control, a pancreas transplant may be an option.
Most pancreas transplants are performed to treat Type 1 diabetes. A pancreas transplant can potentially cure this condition. But such a transplant is typically reserved for those with serious complications of diabetes because side effects can be significant.
In some cases, a pancreas transplant also can treat Type 2 diabetes. A pancreas transplant is often performed in conjunction with a kidney transplant in people whose kidneys have been damaged by diabetes.
"The idea of a pancreas transplant is to actually cure the diabetes," says Dr. Jarmi. "While treatment with a mechanical pump does a great job, it is not a cure. An organic pump, meaning a pancreas transplant, does cure diabetes."
Pancreas transplants are sourced from a deceased donor, and the organ to be transplanted must match the blood type of the recipient. With the replaced function of the pancreas and natural ability to produce insulin, Dr. Jarmi says patients no longer are diabetic.
On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Jarmi discusses pancreas transplant as a cure for diabetes.
To practice safe social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, this interview was conducted using video conferencing. The sound and video quality are representative of the technology used. For the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in an area not designated for patient care, where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.
For more information and all your COVID-19 coverage, go to the Mayo Clinic News Network and mayoclinic.org.
Connect with others talking about diabetes and transplant, and supporting one another in the Transplants support group.
Like
Helpful
Hug
Connect
There are so many problems with this video. It seems to me that it is an advertisement for pancreas transplants, by the surgeon who does them. I will list a few issues with the presentation.
Dr. Jarmi does not properly describe the difference between type 1 and type 2. He does not mention autoimmunity at all. Type 1 is an autoimmune disorder that destroys the insulin-producing beta cells. It is life-long and cannot be reversed with diet and exercise, but type 2 sometimes can.
He does not mention the need for immune suppressants after transplant AT ALL. For type 1's, not only are they needed to prevent rejection, as with any transplant, but to prevent the continued destruction of beta cells via autoimmune attack.
He mentions a criterion for transplant as having "ups and downs" with blood sugar. Find me a type 1 without ups and downs. Almost none of them need the risks of pancreas transplant and immune suppressants. Technology exists to achieve control even for brittle patients.
The idea of "early transplant" before complications is shocking.
I certainly "drove my kid around" before current technologies. You would most likely not "pass out" from lows and certainly not from highs during the daytime, with current technologies. He mentions this impact on social life as another criterion but then goes on to contradict himself and say children should not get transplants.
The scare tactics are concerning. A person with type 1 can certainly have a "normal" social life without a transplant for heaven's sake. And can get pregnant, have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy child. Please.
As for ice cream and cake...this is the most annoying day to day idea that type 1's cannot have sugar. First, a carb is a carb and you have to count carbs and do the math for insulin for ALL foods, not just dessert. (Dr. Jarmi says counting "calories," which is wrong.) Second, with a pump you can eat whatever you want as long as your blood sugar is okay at the time (say, under 140). You do not need a pancreas transplant to eat cake and ice cream. Unbelievable.
The doctor mentions organ survival after surgery but doesn't mention immune suppressants that may (or may not) ensure this. No mention of rejection.
I found this presentation to be ill-informed and irresponsible and I hope it does not give false hope to anyone out there. The life of type 1's is hard. Pumps and CGM's help with control but the vigilance and hard work are part of life for type 1's. There is a reason people don't have transplants. Transplants are major surgery and the immune-suppression carries grave risks.
I hope Mayo will remove this video and insist that a diabetes specialist be included in any further discussion of transplants. We are sick of false promises of freedom from type 1. Dr. Jarmi, this is a false promise and a misleading video, seemingly intentionally.
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
4 Reactions