Solid organ pancreas transplantation: a review of the current status and report of one institution's experience.

Overview

Pancreas transplantation is a procedure with numerous potential complications for graft and patient. However, the severity of the complications of diabetes, including nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy, etc., makes pancreas transplantation a viable alternative, if not necessity, in the end-stage diabetic. The procedure is being performed more and more frequently worldwide with improvements in graft survival and patient quality of life. Options for graft placement, including systemic-versus-portal venous drainage and enteric-versus-bladder exocrine drainage, are raising questions as to the best method for prevention of complications and for monitoring of graft function. A review of pancreas transplantation as well as the experience with 60 such transplants performed between April 1989 and January 1993 at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, is reported.