In people with type 1 diabetes, islet cells of the pancreas no longer produces insulin.
So, it makes sense if a pancreas transplant will cure their diabetes.
But sometimes the treatment can make the impact worse than the disease itself.
The body has a complex and intricate system to recognize the parts from both inside and the parts that are considered foreign or from outside.
So the body does not reject, the doctor will try to match a blood protein called human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type of donor and recipient.
Patients with organ transplants must take immunosuppressive drugs to prevent the body's immune system attacks the new organ.
Side effects of these drugs may be worse than the problems caused by diabetes, and the operation itself was a serious problem.
One to two out of ten people who get a pancreas transplant died within one year.
Still, there are those who after pancreas transplantation and immunosuppressive drug taking his condition does not worsen, despite experiencing severe complications due to diabetes.
Patients who already perform a pancreas transplant will no longer have diabetes so that the administration of insulin and blood glucose checks are no longer needed.
Unfortunately, about half of the sheer number of pancreas transplant was rejected by the body. If the transplant fails, the people will have diabetes anymore.
It must be remembered that pancreas transplantation is useful only for people with type-1 diabetes.
The main problems in people with type 2 diabetes is not a failure of the pancreas, but the inability of the body to respond to insulin properly.
Most pancreas transplant
In addition to a rigorous selection to get a suitable donor pancreas, coupled with a very small number of donors, eventually making the whole pancreas supplies are limited.
Therefore, a person can receive donor partial pancreas from surviving family members.
When a diabetic patient successfully received a kidney transplant from a family who is still alive, if doing partial pancreas transplant at the same time will usually succeed.
Before the damaged kidney transplant outcomes for diabetes, pancreas transplant some of the same donor will help control blood glucose levels and protect the new kidney from further damage.
Transplant success will be higher when the type of HLA match between patient and donor.
In addition, the pancreas transplant is performed in conjunction with kidney transplants tend to be more successful than just a pancreas transplant alone.
Benefits and Risks
Safer pancreas transplant performed on people who do not have heart disease or blood vessel disease.
Prior to transplant, the doctor will examine the circulatory system to see if the condition of the patient is healthy enough to undergo surgery.
Any operation to be undertaken, the better the health condition will better the patient can withstand physical stress due to surgery.
Side effects that may arise due to surgery is usually bleeding and infection. Immunosuppressive drugs have harsh effects on the body, but the person who performed the transplant must take these drugs for life.
Azathioprine and cyclosporine, two drugs commonly used, in addition to making the patient more susceptible to infection also have other side effects.
After surgery, patients should avoid people who have infections, such as colds or flu. In addition, patients also should not do immunizations without a doctor first.
In addition to damage to the kidneys, the other side effect is increased risk of several types of cancer if the patient is using any of these drugs for many years.
A recent study (JAMA, 2003) showed that diabetic patients with renal function is still good, life expectancy for those who only received a pancreas transplant is worse than the survival rate of patients who treat diabetes with conventional therapy (insulin, diet, etc.).
Therefore, the decision to perform only a pancreas transplant alone should very carefully both by patients and physicians.
Because the success rate is lower than the pancreas and kidney transplants simultaneously.
Pancreas transplants are usually performed only in people with type 1 diabetes who have received kidney transplants.
