TRANSPLANTATION OF CULTURED FETAL PANCREATIC-ISLET CELLS IN THE TREATMENT OF INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETES-MELLITUS

Fetal tissue grafting has been used in Russia for some 15 years for th e treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with complications. The use of cultured islet cells from the fetal human, as well. as ani mal, pancreas has been successful even in the absence of immunosuppres sion. This review concerns only studies carried out in the CIS and the rest of the former USSR. It describes the treatment of complications of diabetes mellitus (retinopathy, nephropathy, polyneuropathy), the t reatment of diabetes mellitus in children and pregnant women, and the preparation of patients with diabetes mellitus for surgery.