Simultaneous Pancreas-Kidney Transplantation to Treat End-Stage Renal Disease and Diabetes Mellitus

Opening of the article

Type I Diabetes Mellitus (TIDM), a mostly genetically determined disease, is an important economic and health burden as it leads to long-term complication eventually resulting in end stage renal disease (ESRD). Today, an allogeneic pancreas transplant coalesced with a kidney transplant i.e. simultaneous pancreas kidney transplantation (SPK) has the potential of rendering a Type I diabetic patient completely independent from both insulin and dialysis treatment while reducing further progression of the diabetes and its associated complications. Simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation is the most common method for pancreas transplantation.