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Abstract
The growing incidence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well as the ineffectiveness regarding current therapy in difficult-to-control patients, has led to the need in expanding treatment options for this specific population, specifically seeking novel treatments that provide results in the short and medium term and few complications. Throughout history, multiple attempts have been made to effectively transplant the organ responsible for counteracting high blood glucose levels caused by diabetes.
Today, an increasing amount of literature demonstrates the advantage of whole pancreas transplantation when compared to other treatment options in patients with complicated diabetes and/or end stage renal disease.
The following review provides an exploration in pancreas transplantation since its beginning, referring to the pioneers in the procedure, its development over time, and leading up to the current techniques. Also, the types of pancreatic transplantation, its various indications, as well as innovative techniques, the immunosuppression currently used, the main and most frequent complications observed in this procedure and future directions in pancreas transplantation for the treatment of diabetes mellitus are reviewed.
Key words: Pancreas transplantation; islets of Langerhans transplantation; diabetes mellitus, type 1; diabetes mellitus, type 2; surgical procedure. Source: NLM, MeSH.