Surgical aspects of human islet isolation

Islet transplantation is a safe and effective procedure; however, it depends on the critical step of isolating high-quality islets from a whole pancreas. Human islet isolation requires considerable experience and expertise and is frequently seen as an art rather than a science. Without scientific knowledge of pancreatic anatomy, however, real experience cannot be gained. In particular, an understanding of ductal anatomy is important to perform human islet isolation. This review is based on clinical experience performing more than 900 human islet isolations over 10 years and aims to highlight the importance of pancreatic anatomy and surgical techniques in islet processing.