Pancreas Transplants Do Help … but not without Risks (Portal of Prague)

One of the options on how to help some sufferers of diabetics type I with treatment is a kidney transplant; if need be, kidneys and pancreas. This unique and demanding operation gets carried out in Prague’s IKEM, which became a pioneer in this field in Eastern Europe quarter of a century ago.

The pancreas is an organ, which apart from producing digestive enzymes, produces the hormone insulin which is so important for the metabolism of glucose (blood sugar). If the pancreas isn’t functioning, the patient is entirely dependent on intravenous application of insulin. Pancreas transplants are usually done simultaneously with kidney transplants, only rarely is it done separately. That’s why it’s called combined transplantation.

This operation is done exclusively for diabetes type I patients, and it has now become one of the most widely used treatments for congenital renal failure. After a successful operation the patient’s life is distinctively better. Insulin injections are no longer required; nor are keeping to a diabetic’s diet as health is not under thread of hypoglycaemia. Despite all that, the method of treatment has inherent risks and negative points. Patients have to be using immunosuppressive drugs for the rest of their lives; these are medications which influence the immune system, which is why these operations aren’t done on children. There is a threat that while using immunosuppressive drugs, there could be failure in the metabolism of bones, patients are also more likely to catch infections and develop tumours. When choosing patients suitable for this type of transplant it is necessary to consider if the long term results will outweigh all the risks that come with it. That’s why patients for this operation are mainly selected if they find it hard to tolerate conventional forms of treatment of diabetes and the complications which come with it. Patients, who have failed to note hypoglycaemia and therefore don’t react in time to their condition, can encounter major setbacks; even unconsciousness and death. But before the patient is selected for the transplant waiting list, doctors always try to use all other available treatments. In 2007 there was 2.1 ratio of transplants to a million of people done in the Czech Republic, which makes a total of 22 patients. Czech Republic takes third place in Europe in the number of operations. They are done exclusively at IKEM, which is one of the biggest transplant centres in Europe.