Pancreas and Islet Transplantation in Type 1 Diabetes

This position statement presents the recommendations of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) on pancreas and islet transplantation in patients with type 1 diabetes. The recommendations are based on an ADA technical review (1) and recent extensive review on the subject (2), which should be consulted for further information.

Successful pancreas transplantation has been demonstrated to be efficacious in significantly improving the quality of life of people with diabetes, primarily by eliminating the acute complications commonly experienced by patients with type 1 diabetes (hypoglycemia, marked hyperglycemia, and ketoacidosis). Pancreas transplantation also eliminates the need for exogenous insulin, frequent daily blood glucose measurements, and many of the dietary restrictions imposed by diabetes. Pancreas transplantation is only partially successful in reversing or stabilizing the long-term renal and neural complications of diabetes. However, this procedure is usually performed after 20 years of established diabetes. No data are available to …