Summary

The pancreas is a gland behind your stomach and in front of your spine. It produces the juices that help break down food and the hormones that help control blood sugar levels. A pancreas transplant is surgery to place a healthy pancreas from a donor into a person with a diseased pancreas. It is mostly done for people with severe type 1 diabetes. It can allow them to give up insulin shots. An experimental procedure called islet cell transplantation transplants only the parts of the pancreas that make insulin.

People who have transplants must take drugs to keep their body from rejecting the new pancreas for the rest of their lives. They must also have regular follow-up care. Because of the risks, it is not a common treatment for type 1 diabetes.

Learn More

• Getting a New Pancreas: Facts about Pancreas Transplants (American Society of Transplantation) - PDF
• Kidney-Pancreas Transplant (National Kidney Foundation)
• Pancreas transplant - slideshow (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Statistics and Research

• The SRTR/OPTN Annual Data Report (Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Pancreas Transplantation (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Different timing and risk factors of cause-specific pancreas graft loss after...
• Article: Survival After Simultaneous Pancreas-Kidney Transplantation in Type 1 Diabetes: The Critical...
• Article: Patient, kidney, and pancreas survival in pancreas after kidney transplantation versus...
• Pancreas Transplantation -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
• Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network: Member Directory (Health Resources and Services Administration)

Patient Handouts

• Pancreas transplant (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish