National Pancreas Transplant Programme

St. Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH) was established as the home of the National Pancreas Transplant Programme in 2016.

We provide a consultant led pancreas transplant service for those patients with type 1 diabetes.  Patients who require a simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplant are cared for in SVUH by a multidisciplinary team which combines the expertise of the surgical team in SVUH with the renal transplant team from Beaumont Hospital.

The programme starts with referral of the potential recipient and follows through assessment and decision making to listing and waiting for a suitable organ, transplantation and post-operative follow up.

Pancreas transplantation is a highly specialised procedure that was first performed in the USA in 1966 with the objective of replacing the need for insulin therapy in people with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

Since then, Simultaneous Pancreas-Kidney (SPK) transplantation has evolved including the development of new immunosuppressive therapy. This therapy is now widely accepted as an optimal therapeutic option for patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and end-stage renal disease.

Services                     

• Assessment of patients for pancreas or pancreas and kidney transplant
• Pancreas or pancreas and kidney transplantation

Clinical team    

Our multidisciplinary team consists of transplant surgeons, nephrologists, endocrinologists, anaesthetists, transplant coordinators and other allied health professionals.

Consultants

• Prof. Tom Gallagher
• Dr. John Holian
• Ms Fiona Hand

Clinics

Clinic appointments will be scheduled on an individual basis, taking into consideration the patients other hospital appointments.

Simultaneous Pancreas Kidney Transplant referral

Complete the pancreas referral form linked below. Email it and the related test results to the pancreas transplant coordinators office pancreas.transplant@svuh.ie

Transplant referral must also be sent to the renal transplant team in Beaumont Hospital

• Once the referral has been received it will be triaged by the transplant co-ordinators and an out-patient appointment will be forwarded to the patient.
• Following this appointment, the patient will be discussed at the pancreas transplant multi-disciplinary team meeting. The outcome of this meeting will be communicated to the patient and the referring consultant.
• Patients who are approved for transplant will attend an information session, followed by surgical consent clinic. During this session the risks and benefits of surgery and donor-related issues will be explained.

Transplant coordinator Contact details:

Email:    pancreas.transplant@svuh.ie

Tel:         (01)2213358

Please complete the referral document below and forward with the required test results to:

The Pancreatic Transplant Co-ordinators
St. Vincent’s University Hospital
Elm Park
Dublin 4

Referral Documents

Referral form

Useful links

• HSE
• IKA
• Organ Donations
• Irish Donor Network