Patient Information
Surgeries: Chronic Pancreatitis: Islet Autotransplantation
In some patients with intractable pain from chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic resection can be beneficial. Removal of the pancreas, however, can put patients at risk for the development of diabetes. In islet autotransplantation, this diabetes risk can be minimized by returning a patient’s own insulin-producing islet cells to him or her immediately after surgery. During this procedure, a patient’s pancreas is removed in surgery and sent to the cell processing lab. There, the insulin-producing cells are isolated from the pancreas. These cells are then returned to the patient through a procedure in the radiology suite the same afternoon. The goal of islet autotransplantation is to prevent the severe form of diabetes that can occur after pancreatectomy. Unlike islet transplant from another human donor (islet allotransplantation), islet autotransplantation is best suited for paitents with healthy islet cells (without diabetes) and does not require the use of any medicines to fight rejection of the transplanted cells. Islet autotransplantation can be applied in patients undergoing total pancreatectomy or partial pancreatectomy (whipple procedure, distal pancreatectomy). It is helpful in patients with pancreatitis of any cause but is particularly useful in patients who have familial pancreatitis or pancreatitis with a small pancreatic duct, as often seen in pancreas divisum or sphincter of Oddi dysfunction.