Our expertise extends to pancreas transplantation for patients with life-threatening complications of type 1 diabetes mellitus.
A pancreas transplant is a surgical procedure performed to give a patient with type 1 diabetes mellitus a healthy pancreas from a deceased organ donor. The diseased pancreas is left in place during the transplant procedure because even though it no longer produces insulin, it does still produce enzymes needed to digest the food you eat. The transplanted pancreas is placed in the lower abdomen on the front side of the body. When the transplanted pancreas functions well, patients are able to stop insulin injections immediately after transplant.
We are also the only center in the tri-state region to have performed successful human islet cell transplantation, a minimally invasive procedure to isolate the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin and implant them in a patient in order to improve control and reduce complications of type 1 diabetes.
Pancreas transplantation is a therapeutic option for patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus that have developed significant complications of diabetes such as:
- Nephropathy (kidney disease)
- Retinopathy (retinal disease)
- Neuropathy (nerve problems)
- Hypoglycemic unawareness (inability to sense when blood glucose is low). Hypoglycemic unawareness can be a life-threatening condition because patients may experience car accidents or other problems because they do not realize that their blood sugar is too low.