[Transplantation of the endocrine pancreas]

The transplantation of the endocrine pancreas has been investigated intensively as one way to optimize the therapy of diabetes mellitus. Starting with the free pancreas transplantation 1966 in diabetics, more recently research has been focused on transplantation of pancreatic islets or fetal pancreatic slices and the segmental pancreas transplantation. These forms of transplantation of the endocrine induced diabetes in various animals. Whereas the transplantation of a dispersed pancreatic preparation (islets or fetal pieces) is not connected with any acute or chronic alternation for the patient, the complication rate of the segmental pancreatic transplantation has to be reduced for a broader clinical application. In the case of islet transplantation the research efforts were concentrated on the improvement of tissue preparation and prolongation of the tissue survival.