Who should have a pancreas transplant?

Pancreas transplantation is an option for people who have Type I diabetes mellitus, otherwise known as juvenile-onset diabetes. The pancreas of a person with Type I diabetes no longer produces insulin. Such patients are required to take injections of insulin. Even with insulin treatment, however, Type I diabetes is associated with complications, such as kidney failure (diabetic nephropathy), eye disease (diabetic retinopathy), nerve disease (diabetic neuropathy) and vascular disease (atherosclerosis).

Whole-pancreas transplantation is not an effective treatment for people with Type II diabetes mellitus also known as adult-onset diabetes. In Type II diabetes, the pancreas continues to produce insulin, but the body does not respond to this insulin as it did in the past. This results in loss of blood-glucose control, similar to that seen in Type I diabetes. However, since the pancreas of a person with Type II diabetes still produces insulin, the placement of yet another whole pancreas would not reverse the body's resistance to insulin. Blood-glucose control would not be improved by a pancreas transplant.