Pancreatic islets transplantation

Abstract

Patients with brittle type 1 diabetes who continue to experience life threatening severe hypoglycemia despite maximal medical management can benefit from β-cell replacement. Islet transplantation eliminates hypoglycemic episodes/unawareness, facilitates normalization of haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and decreases microvascular disease progression in patients with labile diabetes. In this article we review the first attempts of β-cell replacement, current indications and contraindications, expected benefits and possible complications of pancreas islets transplantation together with the available techniques that assess the transplanted β-cell function.