An innovative new treatment for Type 1 diabetes has shown promise by freeing a patient from insulin injections in what the Diabetes Research Institute called ‘record time’. Doctors at the institute used a latest to transplant insulin-producing islet cells into a woman with Type 1 diabetes, last month. The institute is a part of the University Of Miami Miller School Of Medicine.

The first patient in the clinical trial Wendy Peacock is now leading a life without injections of the blood sugar-regulating hormone.

The doctors noted that their ultimate goal is a ‘bioengineered mini-organ’ that would basically replace the pancreas in producing insulin.

Last week, 43-year-old Peacock told reporters that her life has improved dramatically. She was among the candidates for the experimental procedure because she had severe hypoglycemia unawareness. She often lost consciousness due to drops in her blood sugar level and as a result couldn't live alone and take care of her 5-year-old son.

Peacock said, “You never forget that you have diabetes. You can't. It's always there. I wish it were just as easy as taking a few injections and you're done with it for the day, but it's nonstop”.

The main difference between the new technique and previous efforts is the location of the transplanted islet cells. In previous experimental surgeries, donated islet cells, which usually produce insulin in the pancreas, were injected into the liver of Type 1 diabetes patients and the cells did not last long. But, doctors didn’t follow the same procedure in the new technique. They implanted the islet cells inside a ‘biodegradable scaffold’ on the omentum, a lining within the abdomen.