melbourne an indianorigin surgeon at the royal adelaide hospital south australias largest public hospital has led a team of doctors that performed the countrys first simultaneous kidney and pancreas transplant on a type 2 diabetes patient previously the combined kidney and pancreas procedure has only been possible for patients with type 1 diabetesshantanu bhattarchajya who hails from kanpur up told toi that his team of four performed the surgery in june but it was made public by the hospital on july 27 the patient a 39yearold man who was on dialysis since 2018 is now diabetesfree and has joined workshantanu bhattarchajya at royal adelaide hospital has led a team of doctors that performed australias first simultaneous kidney and pancreas transplant on a type 2 diabetes patientin type 2 diabetes the body is unable to use insulin a hormone produced by pancreas to turn glucose into energy leading to glucose buildup in the bloodtransplanting a kidney and pancreas simultaneously allowed the pancreas to bring the patients blood sugar under control while it will help the new kidney last longer said bhattarchajya senior consultant transplant and general surgeon at the hospital the idea was to give the patient healthy organs to manage his blood sugar level him being diabetesfree was a positive outcome of the procedure he saidthis is not the first time the 51yearold transplant surgeon has scripted history in 2008 he had performed indias first live donor pancreas and kidney transplant at a private hospital in bengaluru it was a firstofitskind surgery in the country as usually donated organs are extracted from the deceased in this case the donor was alive he was the father of the girl who needed the transplant he saidfor the latest surgery the team had to wait for over a year as the patient needed to find a matching donor what also made the surgery possible was the fact that adelaide has a unique immunosuppressive transplant drug regimen which doesnt use the synthetic corticosteroid drugs that can worsen glucose intolerance and are not suitable for patients with type 2 diabetes according to bhattarchajya it helped matters that the patient was in good health this patient was also suitable because of his low insulin requirement young age overall health and fitness said the surgeon adding that such a multiorgan procedure for a type 2 diabetes patient has been conducted in other parts of the world but was a first for australiaaccording to bhattarchajya the success of the surgery has sparked hope of treatment for other suitable patients with type 2 diabetes