Islet isolation and transplantation from an annular pancreas: a case report.

CONTEXT: Annular pancreas is an uncommon congenital anomaly formed by a thin band of normal pancreatic tissue encircling the duodenum.

CASE REPORT: We report the first case of an islet isolation and transplantation from an annular pancreas. The pancreas together with duodenum was procured from a 32-year-old previously healthy man after diagnosis of brain death. The pancreas including the annular portion was distended well after intraductal collagenase perfusion. A total of 276,064 islet equivalent was recovered and transplanted into a type 1 diabetic patient.

CONCLUSIONS

Bearing in mind the shortage of donors, patients with this anomalous condition should not be excluded as potential organ donors.