A new clinic at the Nebraska Medical Center treats patients who have non-malignant issues or conditions with their pancreas or biliary tract.
Christina Sailors, Clinical Transplant Nurse Coordinator for the clinic, says the majority of patients who come to the clinic are struggling with chronic pancreatitis.
She says the clinic was created to address a need in the community.
Sailors says the doctors at the clinic have already started seeing patients who may be candidates for a new procedure that involves removing the entire pancreas.
"We know that when we do that, the pancreas has several functions and one of the main ones is to produce insulin and prevent patients from becoming diabetic. So when we remove the entire pancreas, we isolate the islet cells out of the pancreas and transplant those back into the patient where hopefully they will set up in the liver, produce insulin and avoid diabetes.”
The clinic is open Wednesday mornings and is located in the Lied Transplant Center on the Nebraska Medical Center campus.
Sailors says the clinic has been full since it opened last fall.
To make an appointment, the number is 402-559-5008.