Patients with type I Diabetes considering pancreas transplantation alone must weigh the risks and benefits of the procedure and decide if life-long treatment with immunosuppressive drugs is preferable to life-long insulin dependence.
In those patients with diabetes who will receive or are already receiving immunosuppressive treatment for a life-saving kidney transplant, a pancreas transplant can return their ability to self-produce insulin.
Pancreas transplantation is a surgical procedure in which a diseased pancreas is replaced with a healthy pancreas that has been obtained from an immunologically compatible cadavear or living donor.
Those who have few secondary complications of diabetes and those who are in good cardiovascular health.
Innovations in islet cell transplants, a procedure that involves transplanting a culture of the insulin-producing islet cells of a healthy pancreas to a patient with type I diabetes.
Patients receiving a pancreas transplantation are monitored closely for organ rejection.
Successful pancreas transplantation allows the body to make and secrete its own insulin, and establishes insulin independence for these patients.
Diabetes and poor kidney function greatly increase the risk of complications from anesthesia during surgery.
Among these individuals, the best candidates for pancreas transplantation are typically between the ages of 20 and 40.
Once transplanted, the new islet cells make and release insulin. Islet cell transplantation is primarily a treatment method for type 1 (juvenile) diabetes, but it can also be used to treat patients who have had their pancreas removed or.
Pancreas transplantation allows the body to once again make and secrete its own insulin, and establishes insulin independence for these individuals.
The pancreas and duodenum (part of the small intestine) are removed.
Transplantation of a healthy pancreas into a diabetic patient is a successful treatment, however, this transplant is usually done only if a kidney transplant is performed at the same time