Reversal of secondary complications of type 1 diabetes (nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy, and cardiopathy)

The long-term goal of pancreas transplantation (PTx) is to achieve glycemic control, but also the prevention, improvement, or stabilization of secondary complications. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) showed that intensive insulin therapy, when compared with “conventional therapy” dramatically reduced the incidence and progression of the microvascular complications of diabetes, nephropathy, neuropathy, and retinopathy. This chapter will review the effects of restoring euglycemia through PTx on the main complications of type 1 diabetes, namely nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy, and cardiopathy.