What To Expect From A Pancreas Transplant
A pancreas transplant is a surgical procedure to normalize an individual's blood glucose by removing diseased pancreatic tissue and replacing it with pancreatic tissue from a donor. A pancreas transplant is not a common surgical procedure and is only utilized in cases where other methods of treatment have been ineffective, and it is a last resort. Most pancreas transplants are performed on patients who have uncontrollable type 1 diabetes, but they also may be done on those with type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer. The donor pancreas tissue typically comes from an individual who is alive physically but has been declared brain-dead. The pancreatic tissue that is transplanted has to match certain criteria to ensure it is immunologically compatible with the recipient's body. Just like any other organ transplant, there is a risk the patient's body will reject the transplanted pancreatic tissue.