: Although there is a notable decline in islet function after islet auto transplant, there is still evidence of significant long-term insulin secretion and possible protection against diabetic complications.
Total pancreatectomy + IAT is effective in improving pain and reducing analgesia. Islet cell transplantation offers the chance of insulin independence and results in lower insulin requirements, as well as conferring a survival advantage when compared with TP alone. Total pancreatectomy + IAT is cost-neutral when compared with nonsurgical or segmental surgical therapy.
Pain control is one of the most challenging aspects in the management of chronic pancreatitis. Total pancreatectomy can successfully relieve the intractable abdominal pain in these patients but will inevitably result in insulin-dependent diabetes. Islet autotransplantation aims to preserve, as far as possible, the insulin secretory function of the islet cell mass thereby reducing (or even removing) the requirement for exogenous insulin administration after a total pancreactomy. Despite the relatively small number of centres able to perform these procedures, there are important technical variations in the details of their approaches. The aim of this review is to provide details of the current surgical practice for total pancreatectomy combined with islet autotransplantation, and outline the potential advantages and disadvantages of the variations adopted in each centre.
Echogenicity with a nodular appearance is a common ultrasonographic finding in the liver after intrahepatic islet autotransplantation. These changes do not seem to adversely affect liver function or insulin requirement. Appreciating these changes is important to avoid misinterpretation or over-interpretation of postoperative USS images.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.