Loveland resident Lois Vicars has joined an extremely exclusive club.

        She is one of about five severely diabetic people worldwide to enjoy life without the need for insulin shots after a single islet cell transplantation.

Vicars

        “It's better than winning the lottery,” she said.

        Ms. Vicars received her transplant April 8 at University Hospital, one of a handful of medical centers equipped to perform the operation. Experts say her case is an example of continuing, rapid advances that many hope will lead to a long-lasting cure for diabetes.

        “We didn't expect this kind of success this early in our program. But it shows that it can be done,” said Dr. E. Steve Woodle, director of the University of Cincinnati's transplantation division.

        Diabetes is the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of blindness and foot amputations. This chronic disease leads to several thousand kidney transplants every year and forces many thousands more to depend on dialysis machines.

        Ms. Vicars, 37, has been diabetic since 1990. For four years, she has depended on an insulin pump that largely failed to control her erratic blood sugar levels.

        Her condition was so extreme that she could not trust herself to drive a car or go out alone because she could pass out without warning. Every night, she had to set alarms wake herself up in the middle of the night to test her blood sugar levels.

        Now, she's finally getting a decent night's sleep.

        “I'll just be able to live like most everybody else, which will be different for me,” Ms. Vicars said.

        More than 40,000 Americans per year are diagnosed with Type I diabetes. Less than 5 percent have cases as extreme as Ms. Vicars.

        An islet cell transplant is a less invasive alternative to pancreas transplantation. In most previous cases, patients have needed transplants from at least two donors to become insulin-free.

        “All the cards were right,” Dr. Woodle said.

        The procedure involves isolating the insulin-producing islet cells from a donor pancreas, purifying them, then injecting them into a blood vessel that carries them to the liver.

        In Ms. Vicars' case, a team led by Dr. Horacio Rilo harvested and processed the islet cells. They were injected during an operation performed by Dr. Woodle.

        In this case, the unidentified pancreas donor died at University Hospital, reducing the time needed to complete the transplant. The pancreas itself was a close match to Ms. Vicars. The good condition of the pancreas plus using the latest processing techniques yielded a high number of islet cells. In addition, Ms. Vicars is physically small, thus she needed fewer islet cells to produce enough insulin.

        All these factors combined to allow one procedure to do the job of two, doctors said.

        This new step in islet cell transplantation will help expand the number of people who can get this procedure, experts say, because most of the pancreases used in islet cell transplants are not suitable for whole-organ transplant.

        Right now, about 1,000 patients a year get islet cell or pancreas transplants. By putting more unusable pancreases to use, that number could grow to 2,500 a year, Dr. Woodle said.

        Of more than 560 patients referred so far to UC's program, 15 have been placed on a waiting list for the next islet cell transplant.

        “Getting to one pancreas per recipient is really a breakthrough,” said Dr. Hans Sollinger, chairman of transplantation at the University of Wisconsin, who recently began a yearlong stint as a visiting professor at UC.
       

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