Type 1 Diabetes: Living With the Disease

Surgery

Surgery is not a routine way of treating type 1 diabetes. You are eligible for surgery only if you meet specific criteria.

• You may have a pancreas transplant surgery if you have had or plan to have a kidney transplant or, rarely, if you meet other requirements.
• You may have islet cell transplant surgery if you meet the rules for being in a study. Islet cells transplanted into the liver make insulin.

Surgery Choices

Pancreas transplant surgery

Pancreatic islet cell transplantation

What To Think About

Pancreas and islet cell transplants are very expensive. After having one of these surgeries, you must take immunosuppressive medicines for the rest of your life to prevent your body from rejecting the new tissue.

The success rate for pancreas transplants has improved with new surgical techniques and new immunosuppressive medicines. Islet cell transplants may replace pancreas transplants in the future, but for now they are experimental.¹⁷

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Author:	Alison Allen Robin Parks, MS	Last Updated: February 23, 2007
Medical Review:	Caroline S. Rhoads, MD - Internal Medicine Matthew I. Kim, MD - Endocrinology & Metabolism Donald Sproule, MD, CM, CCFP, FCFP - Family Medicine
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