Question:
From Brooklyn, New York, USA:
I would like to know about a pancreas and kidney transplant combination.
Answer:
Transplantation of the pancreas from a living related donor, or from a recently-deceased person, has been successful in controlling blood sugar levels in people with diabetes.
Combining a pancreas transplant with a kidney transplant at the same time
in the same patient, or doing a pancreas transplant after a kidney
transplant in a person with diabetes who has kidney failure and needs a
kidney transplant, have both been done. It's obviously a very complicated
situation; I advise my patients that if they will have to have a kidney
transplant, they ought to ask the transplant team about what's involved in
having a pancreas transplant also.
WWQ
Original posting 8 Feb 97