Evolving surgical strategies for pancreas transplantation

Pancreas transplant has become a reliably predictable treatment and cure for patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and hypoglycemic unawareness or renal failure. During the past 2 years, the use of enteric drainage has been shown to decrease morbidity over traditional bladder drainage, and the use of the portal system for venous drainage continues to be explored. Technically, the use of circular staplers, over a hand-sown anastomosis for duodenal drainage, has gained popularity, and alternative arterial reconstruction methods have been developed. Living donor pancreas and kidney transplants are also becoming more common throughout the world. In the area of immunosuppression, steroid-free protocols, now commonplace in kidney transplants, are being applied successfully to pancreas transplantation. Finally, the benefit of solitary pancreas and pancreas after kidney transplantation has been questioned, and a more complete analysis of pancreas alone and pancreas after kidney transplants is anticipated in the near future.