Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffA pancreas transplant is a surgical procedure to place a healthy pancreas from a donor into a person whose pancreas no longer functions properly. Almost all pancreas transplants are done to treat cases of type 1 diabetes.
Your pancreas is an organ that lies behind the lower part of your stomach. One of its main functions is to make insulin, a hormone that regulates the absorption of sugar (glucose) into your cells. Type 1 diabetes results when your pancreas can't make enough insulin, causing your blood sugar to rise to dangerous levels.
The side effects of a pancreas transplant can be significant, so pancreas transplant is typically reserved for those who have serious diabetes complications. A pancreas transplant is often done in conjunction with a kidney transplant.
- Humar A, et al. Transplantation. In: Brunicardi FC, et al. Schwartz's Principles of Surgery. 8th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2005. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=799511. Accessed June 24, 2009.
- Robertson RP. Patient selection for and immunologic issues related to kidney-pancreas transplantation in diabetes mellitus. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 25, 2009.
- Pancreas Kaplan-Meier graft survival rates for transplants performed 1997-2004, by diagnosis. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/latestData/rptStrat.asp. Accessed July 5, 2009.
- Facts about pancreas transplants. American Society of Transplantation. http://www.a-s-t.org/files/pdf/patient_education/english/AST-EdBroPANCREAS-ENG.pdf. Accessed June 30, 2009.
- American Diabetes Association position statement: Pancreas and islet transplantation in type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2006;29:935.
- Getting a kidney-pancreas transplant. National Kidney Foundation. http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=159. Accessed June 24, 2009.
- Robertson RP. Benefits and complications associated with kidney-pancreas transplantation in diabetes mellitus. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 25, 2009.
- Larson-Wadd K, et al. Pancreas and islet cell transplantation. Anesthesiology Clinics of North America. 2004;22:663.
- Coping with the physical side effects of anti-rejection medications. American Society of Transplantation. http://www.healthytransplant.com/index.php?q=quality_of_life/coping_with_the_physical_side_effect_of_anti-rejection_medications. Accessed July 5, 2009.
- Punch JD. Organ transplantation. In: Doherty GM, et al. Current Surgical Diagnosis & Treatment. 12th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2006. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2066708. Accessed June 24, 2009.
- Robertson RP. Pancreas and islet transplantation in diabetes mellitus. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 25, 2009.
- OPTN/SRTR annual report: Adjusted graft survival by year of transplant at 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years, kidney-pancreas transplants — pancreas graft. Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. http://www.ustransplant.org/annual_reports/current/809b_kp.htm. Accessed July 7, 2009.
- OPTN/SRTR annual report: Adjusted graft survival by year of transplant at 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years, pancreas after kidney (PAK) transplants. Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. http://www.ustransplant.org/annual_reports/current/709_pak.htm. Accessed July 7, 2009.
- OPTN/SRTR annual report: Adjusted graft survival by year of transplant at 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years, pancreas transplant alone (PTA) transplants. Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. http://www.ustransplant.org/annual_reports/current/609_pta.htm. Accessed July 7, 2009.
