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Previous Volume 350:2104 May 13, 2004 Number 20 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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To the Editor: We respectfully disagree with two points in Robertson's comprehensive review of islet transplantation (Feb. 12 issue)¹: the assertions that patients with diabetes and autonomic insufficiency have a "dramatically shortened life span" and that transplantation necessarily reduces the rate of death. In the cited articles and an additional article by Navarro et al.,² most persons with diabetes had autonomic insufficiency. In fact, autonomic insufficiency lost its statistical significance after adjustment for renal dysfunction and cardiovascular disease in two population-based studies.^3,4 When Navarro et al. compared pancreas-transplant recipients with medically treated patients, mortality rates were indistinguishable.²

Robertson states . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Sayegh, M. H., Carpenter, C. B. (2004). Transplantation 50 Years Later -- Progress, Challenges, and Promises. NEJM 351: 2761-2766 [Full Text]