ABSTRACT
RATIONALE OF PANCREAS TRANSPLANTATION FOR PATIENTS WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES MELLITUS At the turn of the century a patient diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes mellitus
had average life expectancy of only two years. The development of insulin as a therapeutic agent revolutionized the treatment of diabetes mellitus by changing it from a rapidly fatal disease into a chronic illness. Unfortunately this increased longevity brought to the fore serious secondary complications including nephr opathy, neuropathy, retinopathy and macro-and microvascular complications in survivors 10 to 20 years after disease onset. The annual national direct and indi rect costs of Type 1 and 2 diabetes in 2002 - including hospital and physician care, laboratory tests, pharmaceutical products, and patient workdays lost because of disability and premature death - exceeded $130 billion.1
