Why pancreatic transplant

You can eat a regular diet, too. Candidates for pancreas transplantation generally have type 1 diabetes, usually along with kidney damage, nerve damage, eye problems, or another complication of the disease.

Usually, healthcare providers consider a transplant for someone whose diabetes is out of control even with medical treatment. This is true especially when low blood sugar hypoglycemia has been a long-lasting problem.

Select people with type 2 diabetes have received pancreas transplants as well. A pancreas transplant also works best on people without heart or blood vessel disease.

If you choose a pancreatic transplant, you may be asked to stop smoking or lose weight before the surgery. To reduce the chances of rejection, the healthcare team tries to match the blood and tissue type of the organ donor to the person getting the transplant.

A pancreas transplant is an operation to treat insulin-dependent diabetes. It gives someone with diabetes a healthy insulin-producing pancreas from a donor who's recently died. This means they can produce their own insulin and do not need to inject it. A pancreas transplant allows people with type 1 diabetes insulin-treated diabetes to produce insulin again. It's not a routine treatment because it has risks, and treatment with insulin injections is often effective.

If your doctor thinks you might benefit from a pancreas transplant, you'll need to have a detailed assessment to check whether you're healthy enough to have one before you're placed on a waiting list. Read more about who can have a pancreas transplant and being on the pancreas transplant waiting list.

A pancreas transplant needs to be carried out as soon as possible after a donor pancreas becomes available. The operation is performed under general anaesthetic , where you're asleep. A pancreas transplant offers a potential cure for type 1 or insulin-dependent diabetes.

A successful pancreas transplant will eliminate the need for insulin injections, reduce or eliminate dietary and activity restrictions due to diabetes, and decrease or eliminate the risk of severe low blood sugar reactions. A pancreas transplant can also help manage the damage to other organs including the kidneys that may result from type 1 diabetes. Pancreas transplants are primarily offered to persons with type 1 with severe kidney disease or other life-threatening consequences from uncontrolled glucose levels.

Type 1 diabetes is caused by a loss or malfunction of the insulin producing cells, called pancreatic beta cells. Patients with type 2 diabetes are generally not offered pancreas transplants because their disease results from the body's inability to use insulin properly, not from an inability to produce in insulin in the pancreas. While the beta cells in type 2 patients may become exhausted and fail, the same fate might await beta cells in transplanted pancreas due to the same factors that caused insulin resistance in the first place.

As noted above, Type 1 diabetes is caused by a loss or malfunction of the insulin producing cells, called pancreatic beta cells. Damage to beta cells results in an absence or insufficient production of insulin produced by the body.

Most cases of type 1 diabetes have an autoimmune basis where the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys beta cells. People with type 1 diabetes have very little or no insulin and need to take insulin everyday.

Insulin therapy is life-saving. However, most people with type 1 diabetes continue to have blood glucose levelsabove normal. The aim of a transplant is to restore normal blood glucose levels to the body.

The transplanted pancreas is able to produce insulin to manage blood glucose levels. A pancreas transplant is mainly done for people with diabetes. There are several types of pancreas transplants. Some people may have a pancreas transplant alone PTA. People with diabetic nephropathy — damage to the kidneys from diabetes — can receive a donor pancreas and kidney.

This procedure is called simultaneous pancreas-kidney SPK transplant. This donor has to meet common transplant criteria, including being a certain age and otherwise healthy. This is important to help reduce rejection risk. Occasionally, pancreatic donors are living. A living donor gives part of their pancreas, not the whole organ.

There are more than 2, people on the waiting list for some type of pancreas transplant in the United States, notes UNOS. People who receive other types of transplants, such as a PTA or PAK, will typically spend more than two years on the waiting list.

This will involve multiple tests to determine your overall health, including a physical exam. A healthcare professional at the transplant center will also review your medical history. This evaluation process will take one to two months.

Keep in mind different transplant centers will likely have different preoperative protocols. These will also vary further depending on the type of donor and overall health of the recipient. If the donor is deceased, your surgeon will remove their pancreas and an attached section of their small intestine.

If the donor is living, your surgeon will usually take a portion of the body and tail of their pancreas. A PTA procedure takes around two to four hours.