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A potential medical breakthrough that could have an end to the daily insulin injections endured by people living with diabetes has been unveiled by Dutch scientists.
By destroying the mucous membrane in the small intestine and causing a new one to develop, scientists stabilized the blood sugar levels of people with type 2 diabetes. The results have been described as "spectacular" – albeit unexpected – by the chief figures involved.
In the hourlong procedure, trialled on 50 patients in Amsterdam, with a small balloon in its end is inserted through the mouth of the patient down to the small intestine.
The balloon is inflated with hot water and the mucous membrane burned away by the heat. Within two weeks a new membrane develops, leading to an improvement in the patient's health.
Even a year after treatment, the disease was found to be stable in 90% of those treated. It is believed to be a link between nutrient uptake by the mucus membrane in the small intestine and the development of insulin resistance among people with diabetes.
Jacques Bergman, a professor of gastroenterology at Amsterdam UMC, said: "Because of this treatment the use of insulin can be postponed or perhaps prevented. That's promising. "
Bergman added of the procedure that it was "amazing that people suffer very little from this".
He told the Dutch broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting: "With these people we see a difference in blood sugar levels one day after the operation, before they lose one kilo.
"Because the question is now a permanent treatment, or it is something that you should keep repeating – something that in theory should be possible. We are looking for a breakthrough of insulin, which is still ongoing, but the first results are truly spectacular, with the lion's share of patients not longer using insulin after this treatment. "
The new discovery is most convenient for borderline patients who have taken insulin in the short term.
Apart from dispensing with insulin injections, the researchers claim that they could benefit from a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney failure, blindness and numbness in the hands and feet.
Scientists from Amsterdam UMC who presented their study at a conference in Vienna this week were said to be cautious but "jubilant" about the initial results.
People with type 2 diabetes aged between 28 and 75 are now recruited for a larger study of 100 people.
Almost 3.7 million people in the UK live with a diagnosis of type 1 or 2 diabetes, an increase of 1.9 million since 1998. Type 1 diabetes is where the level of sugar in the blood is too high because the pancreas does not produce insulin.
Those with type 2 diabetes are not producing enough insulin. The impact can be controlled by changes in diet, but it is a progressive disease. Most people will need to take insulin after living with it for five to 10 years.
Nine out of 10 people diagnosed with diabetes 2. It is estimated that there are nearly one million people who are currently living with high blood pressure. blood.
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