Jamil AK Said
From a humble experimental debut in 1966, pancreatic transplantation has undergone significant advances undoubtedly becoming the gold standard endocrine replacement therapy for diabetes in our current time. With more than 37,000 surgeries registered with the international pancreas transplantation registry (IPTR) in the year 2010, it is fair to assume that transplantation of the pancreas has become an established therapeutic modality. of the three major types of transplantation surgeries; simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation (SPK) is the most commonly performed surgery, followed by pancreas after kidney transplantation (PAK), and finally pancreas transplantation alone (PTA) being the least commonly performed. For patients with contraindications to both exogenous insulin and whole pancreas transplantation; less invasive beta islet cell transplantion presents a viable therapeutic modality. This review article aims to explore the evidential base that supports whole pancreatic and beta islet cell transplant as therapeutic modalities in diabetes mellitus, as well as describing the indications, contraindications, advantages, disadvantages and outcomes associated with these forms of treatment.