Progress in transplanting human organs other than the kidney has been disappointingly slow, not only because of rejection reactions but also because of technical difficulties in surgery. Last week surgeons at the University of Minnesota Hospitals in Minneapolis were anxiously watching the progress of the first patient to receive a triple transplant—kidney, pancreas and duodenum.
The 32-year-old woman was a victim of a "brittle" and "malignant" form of diabetes that develops in early life and eventually damages nearly all the body's arteries, including those supplying the kidneys. In this case, the patient's kidneys had already failed, and she was being kept alive...
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