Type of Surgery
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Last updated: 02/17/2009
It is estimated that over one million people in the United States have type 1 diabetes mellitus (also called insulin-dependant diabetes or juvenile diabetes). Among these individuals, the best candidates for pancreas transplantation are typically:
- between...
the ages of 20 and 40 - those who have extreme difficulty regulating their glucose levels with insulin therapy (a condition called brittle diabetes)
- those who have few secondary complications of diabetes
- those who are in good cardiovascular health
A pancreas-only transplant is an uncommon procedure, with only 163 procedures occurring in the United States in 2001. More common is the combined kidney-pancreas transplant, which was performed on 885 patients the same year. An additional 305 patients received a PAK, or pancreas after kidney transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
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A pancreas transplant is an organ transplant that involves implanting a healthy pancreas (one that can produce insulin) into a person who has diabetes. Because the pancreas performs functions necessary in the digestion process, the recipient's native pancreas is left in place, and the donated pancreas attached in a different location. In the event of rejection of the new pancreas, the recipient could not survive without the native pancreas still in place. The healthy pancreas comes from a donor who has just died or it may be a partial pancreas from a living donor. Whole pancreas transplants from living donors are not possible, again because the pancreas is a necessary organ for digestion. At present, pancreas transplants are usually performed in persons with insulin-dependent diabetes who have severe complications.
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