Visualizing Beta Cells After Intrahepatic Islet of Langerhans Transplantation

Detecting damage to islets with a reliable imaging technique could be important for improving islet survival after transplantation. This could lead to better patient outcomes which would be of great interest for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. In order to assess the possibility of visualizing transplanted islet grafts with Ga-68-NODAGA-exendin-4 PET, a proof-of -concept study is performed in 10 patients with type 1 diabetes who have undergone intrahepatic islet transplantation with biochemically proven functional islet grafts and 5 patients with type 1 diabetes who are on the waiting list for islet transplantation. The investigators propose to determine the uptake of the radiolabeled tracer and compare it to functionality of the islet grafts. These highly relevant data will provide us with more information on the suitability of GLP-1 receptor imaging for monitoring of transplanted islet mass.