Medical Advances
Emory is one of just a handful of centers around the world performing islet transplants as a treatment for type 1 diabetes. We continue to gain experience and make progress in islet transplantation, experimenting with new combinations of immunosuppressive drugs that are potentially less toxic than those currently in use. The goal is to lengthen the survival of donor islets and reduce the side effects of immunosuppressive therapy, which include anemia, nerve and kidney damage, and risk of infection.
Using a grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), Emory transplant researchers have also been investigating pig islets as an alternative to human islets for transplant into patients with Type 1 diabetes.
VIDEO: First Georgia islet transplant patient talks about her experience
