Although this is a great breakthrough, to date, one person – Richard Lane*, who underwent a transplant at King’s College in London under the care of Professor Stephanie Amiel and her team – was able to come off insulin.

The other transplanted patients in the trial have benefited from being able to lower their insulin doses, remove hypoglycaemia, and improve their blood glucose control. While not ‘free of insulin’, just having a minimum number of functioning islet cells in the body can help to stabilise blood glucose levels and stop the sudden lows that all these individuals had previously suffered from.

One of the most important results that has come from Islet trasnplantation is that patinets have been able to return to a normal lifestyle after having suffered major disruption due to hypoglycaemia.
One recently transplanted patient is the first ‘single donor’ success. Under the care of Dr Martin Press and his team at the Royal Free in London, she received just one transplant as opposed to the more usual three. She now has a normal blood glucose level without insulin, but is being kept on a tiny precautionary dose to help keep her new islets healthy.

Although it may be possible for someone to stop taking insulin after an islet transplant, supporting the transplanted islets with a small dose of insulin may mean they can continue to produce insulin for longer. Therefore people who have islet cell transplants will continue to take a smaller dose of insulin in addition to the anti-rejection medication.