A pancreas transplant is an option for some people with type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the pancreas stops producing the hormone insulin. The usual treatment for type 1 diabetes involves daily injections of insulin.
During a pancreas transplant, you’ll receive a healthy pancreas from a donor who has died. If you have kidney failure from your diabetes, your surgeon may also do a kidney transplant at the same time. The kidney transplant may be done earlier or even after the pancreas transplant.
In a pancreas transplant, your own pancreas remains in your body. The surgeon generally connects the new pancreas to your intestines so its digestive juices can drain. After a successful transplant, you’ll no longer need to take insulin. Instead, the new pancreas will create insulin for you. You can eat a regular diet, too. You’ll have few or no episodes of low (or very high) blood sugar or insulin shock and your risk for kidney damage will go down.
WHO IS A CANDIDATE FOR THE TRANSPLANT?
Candidates for pancreas transplantation generally have type 1 diabetes, usually along with nerve damage, eye problems, or another complication of the disease. Usually, health providers consider a transplant for someone whose diabetes is out of control despite medical intervention. Although select people with type 2 diabetes have received pancreas transplants, people with type 2 diabetes normally are not candidates for pancreas transplantation because they still produce some insulin, so a new pancreas would not help them. A pancreas transplant also works best on people without heart or blood vessel disease. If you opt for a pancreatic transplant, you may be asked to stop smoking or lose weight before the surgery.
WHAT ARE THE RISKS?
The procedure’s risks are infection and organ rejection. Rejection happens when the body’s immune system attacks the new organ as a “foreign” invader. To reduce the chances of rejection, doctors try to match the blood and tissue type of the organ donor to the person getting the transplant.
After the transplant, doctors prescribe special drugs that suppress the immune system, such as azathioprine, cyclosporine, and others, to help prevent rejection of the new pancreas. However, these drugs make it more likely for people with a transplanted organ to pick up infections like colds and the flu. Over time, the drugs may also increase the risk for certain cancers. Because of the higher risk for skin cancer, for example, it’s important to cover up and wear sunscreen. If you get a pancreas transplant, you must take special medications as long as you have the transplanted organ in your body. It’s also crucial to keep all your doctor appointments.
IS THERE A WAITING LIST?
Currently, more people are in need of a healthy pancreas than can be provided for with donors. The wait for a pancreas can be quite long – on average, about 3 years. Surgeons may plan to do a pancreas transplant at the same time as a kidney transplant, to help control blood glucose levels and reduce damage to the new kidney. The chance of rejection is less if the immune characteristics of the donated organ match more and are more compatible with those of the recipient patient.
WHAT IS THE OUTLOOK AFTER A PANCREAS TRANSPLANT?
The long-term outlook for people who receive a pancreas transplant is quite good. A recent report in the Review of Diabetic Studies found that the five-year survival rate for pancreas transplant patients during the past 25 years is greater than 83%. People who receive simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplants also tend to have less chance of rejection
