High success rate reported in pancreas transplants

The success rate achieved in pancreas transplantation since it was first carried out in Ireland in 1992 ranks among the best in the world, a transplant surgeon told the British Transplantation Society's annual conference in Dublin yesterday.

Successful transplantation is providing a dramatic improvement in the lifestyle of many Irish people with diabetes, which occurs when the production of insulin by the pancreas is decreased or absent, according to Mr Seamus Teahan, transplant registrar at Beaumont Hospital.

Reviewing the first 25 of such operations carried out in the Republic, he said Beaumont had a 92 per cent success rate one year after the transplant. The International Pancreas Transplant Registry quotes a success rate of 84 per cent.