[Pancreatic transplantation: 1. Indications and results]

In the face of a rising incidence of diabetes, pancreatic transplantation seems to be the only treatment capable of normalizing glycosylated hemoglobin and stabilizing or improving the complications of diabetes. To date, more than 19,000 pancreatic transplantations have been done worldwide. Surgical indications must take into account the constraints and risks specific to the diabetic illness, the risks of a complex surgical procedure, and the absolute necessity for long term immunosuppression. Combined kidney/pancreas transplantation is the most common procedure (90% of cases) and is the most effective treatment for renal insufficiency due to diabetes. Results have improved significantly over the last ten Years due to improvements in the surgical technique and to improvement of immunosuppressive regimens. Results are at least as good and perhaps better than those achieved in the transplantation of other solid organs; patient survival, renal graft survival, and pancreatic graft survival are respectively 95%, 92%, and 85% at one Year. Results of pancreatic transplantation alone have improved and now seem equal to those of combined organ transplantation. Transplantation seems to be cost-effective in the overall care of advanced diabetes, particularly in those patients on chronic dialysis or having degenerative complications.