Abstract
Since October 1997 as of May 2011, a total of 102 pancreas transplantations from brain-dead donors have been performed in Japan. Of those, forty pancreas transplantations were performed within 11 months after enaction of the Modified Organ Transplantation Law. But the large increase of pancreas transplantation in a short time produced several problems. The present unfair kidney sharing system between simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation (SPK) and kidney transplantation alone should be revised first. And the new pancreas sharing system is necessary to combine pancreas and islet transplantation. Moreover, the marginal donors must be treated carefully because the majority of brain-dead donors in Japan are marginal. We investigated these problems based upon our experience and prospected the future of the pancreas transplantation in Japan.
