Doctors at Osaka University Hospital last month successfully removed a chronically inflamed pancreas from a pancreatitis patient before separating the organ's insulin-producing islets and transplanting them back into the patient, marking a new form of treatment, hospital officials said Wednesday.
Since the transplant the patient, in her 30s, who had been unable to eat due to her dysfunctional pancreas, has recovered well enough to eat normally, with her body producing insulin to control blood sugar, they said, adding she is expected to leave the hospital this month.
The treatment is expected to improve the quality of life of the patient, whose disease could have progressed to diabetes or cancer, although a pancreas transplant may become necessary in the future, said Toshinori Ito, professor at the university who performed the transplant.