Digestive Disorders Health Center

Pancreas Treatments

• Insulin: Injecting insulin under the skin causes body tissues to absorb glucose, lowering blood sugar. Insulin can be created in a lab or purified from animal sources.
• Pseudocyst drainage: A pseudocyst can be drained by inserting a tube or needle through the skin into the pseudocyst. Alternately, a small tube or stent is placed between either the pseudocyst and the stomach or the small intestine, draining the cyst.
• Pseudocyst surgery: Sometimes, surgery is necessary to remove a pseudocyst. Either laparoscopy (multiple small incisions) or laparotomy (one larger incision) may be needed.
• Pancreatic cancer resection (Whipple procedure): The standard surgery to remove pancreatic cancer. In a Whipple procedure, a surgeon removes the head of the pancreas, the gallbladder, and the first section of the small intestine (the duodenum). Occasionally, a small part of the stomach is also removed.
• Pancreatic enzymes: People with cystic fibrosis often must take oral pancreatic enzymes to replace those that the malfunctioning pancreas doesn’t make.
• Pancreas transplantation: An organ donor’s pancreas is transplanted into someone with diabetes or cystic fibrosis. In some patients, a pancreas transplant cures diabetes.
• Islet cell transplantation: Insulin-producing cells are harvested from an organ donor’s pancreas and transplanted into someone with type 1 diabetes. The still-experimental procedure can potentially cure type 1 diabetes.