If you need to contact the transplant unit before you arrive (night or day), call 612-273-3064.

Deceased donor transplants 

The transplant operation

Possible surgical complications

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

Recovering in the hospital


Deceased donor transplants
If you will receive a pancreas from a deceased donor, you will get a call from a doctor at University of Minnesota Medical Center. Calls like this can come any time, day or night, so be sure to answer your phone.

When a pancreas is available, we may call two patients. We do this to make sure the organ can be used and time is not lost. We will tell you if you are the first or second choice for this transplant.

The doctor will ask you to come to the hospital as quickly (and safely) as possible. Please be sure to:

• Get the doctor’s name and phone number.
• Say what time you expect to arrive at the hospital.
• Tell the doctor if you have recently had a surgery, illness, infection or health problem.
• Ask what to do about your insulin. Find out how to prevent low blood glucose.
• Follow the doctor’s orders about when to stop eating and drinking.
• Bring a support person with you to the hospital.

If you arrival time changes or other problems occur, call 612-273-3000. Ask us to page the on-call transplant surgeon.

When you arrive at the hospital, please stop at the Admissions Department. They will direct you to the Transplant Unit. Once you are admitted, we will prepare you for surgery.

• You will have a chest X-ray, ECG, blood tests and urine tests.
• You may need enemas to clean out your intestines.
• You will be told how to take a shower using special soap.
• The anesthesiologist (doctor in charge of your anesthesia) will discuss the medicines he or she will give you during surgery.
• We will insert an IV (intravenous) line to give you fluids and medicines.

Your support person or family can stay with you until it is time to go to the operating room. We will then direct them to the waiting area on the third floor. After your surgery, the doctors will meet them there.

The transplant operation
Your transplant surgery will take about four to six hours. The surgeon will place the new pancreas in your lower abdomen (belly area), on the right or left side. Your incision (surgical cut) will be about 6 to 8 inches long down the center of your abdomen.

You will have a tube (catheter) in your bladder to help you pass urine. We may also need to give you blood transfusions (blood products) during surgery.

After your new pancreas is in place, your surgeon will watch for signs that it is healthy and has a good blood supply. We will update your family at this time.

Possible complications
Problems from surgery may include:

• Allergic reaction to anesthesia (the medicine used to put you to sleep)
• Bleeding
• Blood clots
• Kinked or narrow blood vessels
• A leak where the pancreas attaches to the bladder or bowel
• Infection
• Fluid collecting in your body
• Pneumonia
• Heart problems, such as a heart attack
• Multi-organ failure
• Death

If you have problems during or after surgery, we will treat them right away. You may have a longer stay in the hospital, or you may need more surgery.

Recovering in the hospital
After you leave the operating room, we will bring you to the recovery room. When you are fully awake, we will move you to your bed on the transplant unit. You may be in a single or double room, depending on your needs. Some patients will stay in the intensive care unit (ICU).

You may be slow to wake up after surgery. We will give you medicine to control pain and help you relax. We will do blood tests daily to make sure your pancreas is working well.

While you are on the Transplant Unit, you will learn about your medicines and how to take care of yourself at home. You will need to go to two different classes. Your nurse will schedule these for you. You will also receive a handbook for patients. This provides general information and a place to write your lab results.

Your nurse will work closely with you as you learn. By the time you go home you will know how to take your medicines, record your lab values, check your blood pressure and more.

Once you go home, you will need to keep track of your lab values. You must know how they should be reported to the transplant office.

Most patients are in the hospital for seven to ten days after the transplant. If your pancreas is attached to your bladder, the bladder tube will need to stay in place for up to three weeks. (You will probably go home with it.)