United States Renal Data System 1998 Report. United States Renal Data System 1998 Report. Kidney Transplants A functioning kidney transplant provides the diabetic patient, whose kidneys are failing, better survival with superior rehabilitation than does either CAPD or maintenance hemodialysis. Fewer than four in 100 diabetic ESRD patients treated by either peritoneal or hemodialysis will live for a decade while cadaver donor and living donor kidney recipients fare far better. More than half of diabetic kidney transplant recipients live for at least three years.
Many survivors return to occupational, school and home responsibilities.
A relatively new treatment, pancreatic transplantation, is growing in acceptability and technical success. Since a defective pancreas is the source of the diabetic patient's medical problems, the consensus of kidney specialists is that the ESRD patient with Type 1 diabetes should consider a simultaneous kidney and pancreas transplant as, at least, a temporary cure of inexorable disease. By current practice, younger patients with fewer complications are assigned to renal transplantation, while residual older, sicker patients are treated by dialysis. The same statement is also correct for peritoneal dialysis. However, long-term survival is only attained with hemodialysis or the distinctly preferable option of kidney transplantation.