The first reports on successful clinical islet allotransplantation curing patients from type I diabetes mellitus in the United States and Canada have stimulated the work of many transplanters throughout the world including the countrier within the Eurotransplant community. The details of the work have also shown the importance of logistic maneuvers associated with the procurement of pancreases, islet isolation and storage procedures such as cryopreservation. Refined methods for islet isolation, the possibility of organbanking and quality control of the islet preparation were essential prerequisites for successful islet transplantation. Increased knowledge of immunologic graft rejection and the interaction of the islets with immunosuppressive agents currently used have clearly shown why islet transplantation was unsuccessful in the past and which conditions are required to make islet transplantation clinically feasible today.
In cooperation with Eurotransplant a workshop on islet transplantation was organised at the Department of Surgery at the University of Cologne on Saturday the 12th January 1991. At the workshop all transplant centers within Eurotransplant that are experimentally and clinically involved in the isolation and transplantation of islets were participating. Overview presentations and personal experience formed a basis on which the above mentioned subjects were discussed. This exchange of experience was supposed to provide better conditions for pancreas procurement, islet isolation and successful transplantation of the islets in humans. The workshop was designed to give an update on islet transplantation and information to all of those who are involved in the treatment of type I diabetic patients.