The New England journal of medicine
-
Transplantation of pancreatic islets, rather than whole pancreas, has been introduced as a treatment for diabetes mellitus. We studied five patients ranging in age from 12 to 37 years who had severe chronic pancreatitis for which they underwent total pancreatectomy followed by isolation and hepatic transplantation of their own islets. ⋯ Intrahepatic transplantation of as few as 265,000 islets can result in the release of insulin and glucagon at appropriate times and in prolonged periods of insulin independence.