How is islet transplantation different from pancreas transplantation?
Pancreases have been transplanted successfully for many years as a treatment for patients with advanced diabetes. But pancreas transplantation is major surgery, undertaken usually only when the diabetes complications are so severe as to warrant the trauma and risk of the surgery. Islet transplantation is far simpler and faster. It can be performed on diabetes patients with far less risk and before the worst complications of the disease are able to develop. Or alternatively, on patients for whom glucose control is very difficult but for whom a whole pancreas transplant is deemed too risky.
