Experience with portal-enteric pancreas transplant at the University of Tennessee-Memphis

The UT-Memphis Group has made a number of important contributions to the field of PTX including: 1. Pioneering studies on the effects of PTX on autonomic neuropathy;(15, 16) 2. Comprehensive reports dealing with quality of life after PTX;(17, 18, 38) 3. Seminal studies on the metabolic effects of PTX with portal venous delivery of insulin;(33,34) 4. Refining and perfecting a novel technique of PTX with portal venous drainage of insulin and primary enteric drainage of the exocrine secretions;(2,6,11,19) 5. Describing a percutaneous technique of pancreas biopsy;(20) and 6. Pioneering the use of glucose tolerance for rejection surveillance.(24) The P-E technique has the potential to become the standard of care in the near future because it is more physiologic, normalizes carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, and minimizes complications attributed to the transplant procedure. In addition, we have been actively involved in studying new immunosuppressive regimens in order to improve and simplify the care of the PTX recipient. We believe that PTX will remain an important option in the treatment of IDDM until other strategies are developed that can provide equal glycemic control with less or no immunosuppression or less overall morbidity.