[Pancreas transplantation in insulin dependent diabetic patients]

Successful transplantation of the pancreas as a whole organ, or as isolated islet cells, is the only treatment that achieves a stable normoglycemia as a result of insulin secretion and renewal of serum glucose levels control systems. Nowadays, one year patient survival after pancreas transplantation is above 90%, while functioning grafts are observed in 84% of combined pancreas kidney and in 70% of isolated pancreas transplantations. Type I insulin dependent diabetic patients aged 45 or less with severe diabetic nephropathy, without immediate life saving cardiovascular risk, highly motivated and well informed achieve the best results. Namely, these results include euglycemia without exogenous insulin, improvement of secondary complications of diabetes, protection of the kidney graft, and longer life expectancy with better quality of life, as compared to dialyzed diabetic patients.