Diabetes is the most common cause of end stage
renal disease in the United States and accounts
for nearly 39 percent of all the patients on
dialysis in New Jersey. Thanks to advances in
pancreas transplantation, people with diabetes
and kidney disease have another treatment option.
Saint Barnabas Medical Center offers people
with kidney disease and diabetes two pancreas
transplant alternatives. In addition to the highly
successful simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplant
surgery that began at Saint Barnabas in 1995,
the state’s first pancreas after kidney
transplant was performed at the Center in 2001.
More than 50 people with diabetes have been freed
of their dependence on insulin injections because
of Saint Barnabas’ Pancreas Transplantation
Program.
Whether the pancreas is transplanted at the
same time as the kidney or sometime after the
kidney, the results are the same, explains Stuart
Geffner, M.D., Director of Transplant Surgery
at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. “A
pancreas transplant offers individuals with diabetes
control of their blood sugar without the use
of insulin or dietary restrictions. And there
is good evidence that a transplanted pancreas
can delay, prevent or in some cases reverse the
debilitating effects of diabetes, such as retinopathy,
neuropathy, and vascular problems,” he
adds.
“When combined with kidney transplantation,
the rate of success for pancreas transplantation
rises, because rejection is easier to detect
and therefore divert,”says Dr. Geffner. He
also credits the newer immunosuppressive medications
with greatly reducing the incidence of pancreas
rejection. “Our goal is to provide the
most up-to-date treatment alternatives. With
a program like this in New Jersey, patients no
longer have to travel great distances for quality
care.”
Making Milestones – Since
joining the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Centers,
Stuart Geffner, M.D., has been instrumental
in achieving medical milestones in the state,
among them, the first pancreas after kidney
transplant surgery.
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