Pre-Edmonton Era—The PastDuring the past six years, transplant teams have been intensely focused on improving the rather dismal history of pancreatic islet allograft transplantation in humans. This short review will consider the status of islet transplantation in 2006 in the context both of success rates of islet transplantation prior to 2000 and current success with whole pancreas transplantation.Successful clinical pancreas transplantation for type 1 diabetes was first reported by the University of Minnesota in 1966 (see Figure 1). In the ensuing years, operative techniques and immunosuppressive drug regimens improved significantly.
The History of Pancreas Transplantation