PANCREAS transplantation offers a means of normalizing plasma glucose concentrations in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and therefore the possibility of delaying or ...preventing the long-term complications of the disease. However, it is not known whether pancreas transplantation, in addition to lowering glucose concentrations, also restores hepatic and extrahepatic glucose metabolism to normal. In normal subjects, the pancreatic venous effluent drains into the portal venous system and the liver extracts approximately 50 percent of the insulin presented to it.
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Current surgical procedures drain the venous effluent of the transplanted pancreas into the systemic circulation.
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Unfortunately, this method abolishes the . . .
