Hepatitis C virus recurrence and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura after liver transplantation in adult patients: Role of splenectomy [4]

Despite the success of whole organ pancreas transplant for patients with type I diabetes mellitus, the actual number of pancreata recovered and used for transplantation falls significantly short of the potential. According to Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data, in 2002, less than 30% of deceased donors were pancreas donors, and nearly 20% of pancreata recovered were not transplanted. Reasons cited for the low rate of pancreas procurement include lack of payment, inconsistency in organ acceptance and sharing, and the technical difficulty of the donor operation. Standard techniques for pancreas procurement have been previously described, which is usually accomplished by in situ dissection or bench dissection after en bloc removal with other organs. Generally, this procedure is a time-consuming endeavor.