Pancreas Transplant

What Is a Pancreas Transplant?

A pancreas transplant is surgery to implant a healthy pancreas from a donor into a person whose pancreas no longer works well, usually because of severe diabetes.

Severe type I diabetes is often linked to chronic renal (kidney) failure. As a result, a person who needs a pancreas transplant also may need a kidney transplant.

Types of Pancreas Transplants

The kinds of pancreas transplant operations include:

• Combined kidney-pancreas transplant, in which a pancreas and kidney are transplanted during the same operation
• "Pancreas after kidney" transplant, in which the pancreas is transplanted after a kidney has been transplanted
• Pancreas transplant alone, in which only the pancreas is transferred; this is for patients with working kidneys.
• Pancreatic islet cell transplant. Islets are groups of cells in your pancreas. Some of those cells, called beta cells, help make insulin, the hormone that helps turn blood sugar into energy. An islet transplant is still an experimental treatment and is done only in clinical trials. Doctors take healthy beta cells from donors and inject them into the veins of your liver.

Pancreas Transplant Candidates

A team of specially trained staff evaluates a person to determine whether they are a good candidate for a pancreas transplant. Typically only people with severe diabetes, usually type I or juvenile-onset diabetes, are considered.

If the person is considered a suitable pancreas transplant candidate, they will be placed on a waiting list. The evaluating team considers many things in deciding whether a person should be placed on the waiting list for a transplant. The person's general health and suitability for major surgery are taken into account. Pancreas transplants are not done on people with certain conditions, including:

• Untreatable cancers
• Infections that cannot be completely treated or cured, such as tuberculosis
• Severe heart, lung, or liver problems or complications from diabetes that would make the operation too risky

What to Expect During a Pancreas Transplant

During pancreas transplant surgery, a donated pancreas is transplanted into the recipient, whose failed pancreas is not removed. The pancreas must be transplanted into the patient receiving the organ within hours after removing it from the donor. A team of surgeons and anesthesiologists does an operation to remove the pancreas from the donor. Other surgical teams may be present to remove other organs, such as kidneys.