The BBC reports that a new clinic will open in Edinburgh within a few months. The clinic will perform islet cell transplants on type 1 diabetics who cannot control their diabetes with diet and drugs.

Although most diabetics can control blood sugar levels with insulin, diet and other drugs some have great difficulty in controlling their diabetes as their blood sugar swings up and down.  Others are unable to detect hypoglycemia, which can lead to diabetic coma.

The treatment, to be offered in Scotland for the first time, is a transplant of  islet cells taken from a donating pancreas. The cells are injected to the vein of the recipient leading to the liver.  The islets then remain and work in the liver.