Pancreas Transplant

Quick Facts

The pancreas sits just behind your stomach. It breaks down the food you eat by making digestive enzymes.
The pancreas acts like your personal health coach and controls your sugar levels and produces a special juice that releases the nutrients from your food to help keep you in the best possible shape.
The pancreas also controls the amount of sugar in your blood. Having too much or too little sugar can be life threatening, so the pancreas must stay on constant alert.
When the body’s sugar levels are low the pancreas releases glucagon that communicates with the liver to release stored sugars .
When the body’s sugar levels are high, insulin is released by the pancreas to control the bl;ood sugar levels.

Who needs a transplant?

A pancreas transplant is a surgical procedure to place a healthy pancreas from a deceased donor into a person whose pancreas no longer functions properly.

Pre - Transplant Evaluation

Several tests are required before going ahead with a transplantation process. These include the following:

Surgery

Although it is possible for a living donor to donate a pancreas segment, most pancreas transplants involve a whole organ from a deceased donor.
After the donor pancreas is removed, preserved and packed for transport, it must be transplanted into the recipient within twelve to fifteen hours.
The pancreas transplant recipient is first given general anesthesia and is placed on a ventilator and an incision is made in the lower abdomen. The diseased pancreas is not removed during the operation.
The donor pancreas is inserted in the lower portion of the patient’s abdomen and attached to their blood vessels, and intestine or bladder.
The whole organ pancreas surgical procedure takes approximately two to four hours to complete. Because the length of this surgery is different for every patient, families should talk with the surgeon about what to expect.
There are several different types of pancreas transplants, including:

Solitary pancreas transplant: The placement of a healthy pancreas into a recipient whose pancreas is no longer functioning properly.
Combined kidney –pancreas transplant. Simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplants for people with diabetes who have or are at risk of kidney failure.
Pancreatic islet cell transplant. Insulin-producing cells (islet cells) taken from a deceased donor’s pancreas are injected into a vein that takes blood to your liver. More than one injection of transplanted islet cells may be needed. This is a novel technique and efficiency is being evaluated.

Postoperative Care

The post operative care involves 2-4 days of intensive care stay.
Comprehensive post-surgical monitoring constantly evaluates whether the body is accepting the new organ.
In addition, the amount of time you spend in the recovery room, waking up and getting to the point that you’re ready to go home, will vary from patient to patient.

Living with a Transplant

During the first 4-6 months post transplant the transplant team will closely monitor you for any signs of organ rejection with blood work, ultrasounds, endoscopies and biopsies as needed.
There might be restrictions on diet and daily activities depending on the transplant.
Transplant patients will be continued to be monitored for life-time however, the intensity of the tests might reduce after a year post transplant.