At the Edouard Herriot hospital in Lyon, surgeons carried out a simultaneous kidney and pancreatic islet transplant, which contains insulin-producing cells. This innovative technique, used for the first time in France, could provide a long-term cure for type 1 diabetes.
- In Lyon, surgeons carried out a simultaneous kidney and pancreatic islet transplant.
- This innovative technique improves the chances of a successful transplant and could cure diabetes in the long term.
- Several similar operations should be carried out in France this year.
The life of Christophe, 52, has changed. This Beaujolais winemaker, suffering from type 1 diabetes, received a simultaneous transplant of a kidney and pancreatic islets or Langerhans, areas of the pancreas where insulin-producing cells are located. The first French patient to benefit from this innovative operation, he now lives without dialysis and could soon be cured of the disease.
Type 1 diabetes: an innovative and minimally invasive transplant technique
“Nestled in the pancreas, the islets of Langerhans are made up of hundreds of millions of endocrine cellsindicates Professor Morelon, head of the transplantation, nephrology and clinical immunology department at the Edouard Herriot hospital, in a press release. They are the ones that produce insulin. It therefore seems more logical for diabetic patients, who do not secrete insulin, to transplant islets rather than an entire pancreas, as has been practiced for a long time..” This minimally invasive operation is carried out by injecting endocrine cells into the liver. This technique was already used in France but only on an experimental basis in the context of clinical research.
A double operation carried out for the first time in France
Christophe was the first patient to benefit from it in August 2024. Suffering from type 1 diabetes since 2004, he was on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. At the end of 2023, his doctors told him about this innovative protocol, combining a kidney and pancreatic islet transplant. On Sunday August 4, the team from the urology and transplant surgery department at the Edouard Herriot hospital transplanted a kidney. Less than 48 hours later, the pancreatic islets are injected. “Never before has a double intervention of this kind, with the simultaneous transplantation of a kidney and islets of Langerhans, from the same donor, been performed in France.recalls the Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL). Until now, the kidney was transplanted first and the islet transplant carried out several months later, with cells from another donor.” According to Dr Fanny Buron, hospital practitioner in the transplantation, nephrology and clinical immunology department, performing the two operations simultaneously improves the acceptance of grafts from the same donor and avoids double surgery. , which facilitates convalescence.
Several simultaneous transplants planned for 2025
After the first injection in August, Christophe received a second transplant in October. “He will have to wait for the third and final, scheduled as soon as a new compatible donor is identified, to ensure he is fully cured of diabetes. prevent HCL. But he is already seeing the benefits of this operation. “I am no longer tired, my legs no longer hurt, my creatinine level is very good, I hardly take any insulin and will no longer take it at all after the 3rd islet injection. And then, above all, I am free of my peritoneal dialysis. Every evening, for more than three years, I had to connect to a device, I couldn’t take it anymore. The first time I woke up at home after the transplant, when I touched my stomach and there was no more tube, I cried, he says. This operation changed my life.” Since then, two other patients have benefited from this technique. In 2025, the Edouard Herriot hospital team hopes to carry out six to eight simultaneous transplants.
