Renal transplantation in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Forty patients (including 37 juvenile diabetic patients) with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and end-stage renal failure received 42 renal allografts during the interval from June 1970 to December 1975. Of the 30 patients who are alive (between six and 72 months after transplantation; average, 29 months), 19 have been fully rehabilitated. Gangrene of peripheral extremities occurred in 30% of the survivors. The use of "pretreated" cadaveric kidneys in the diabetic patient may become an attractive alternative to grafts from living related donors. Renal transplantation with living related and pretreated cadaveric donor kidneys is the treatment of choice and is superior to dialysis in the insulin-dependent diabetic patient with end-stage renal disease.