Of 89 pancreas transplants performed in 77 diabetic patients (43 with and 34 without previous kidney transplants), 53 were from cadaver and 36 from related donors. To date, 64 patients (83%) are alive and 27 (35%) have functioning grafts (14 greater than 1 year), including 0 out of 3 duct-ligated, 3 out of 15 open-duct, 17 out of 32 enteric-drained, and 7 out of 39 duct-injected. Of technically successful allografts, 8 out of 16 (50%) in the azathioprine- and 17 out of 47 (36%) in the cyclosporin-treated recipients are functioning (eight cyclosporin patients also take azathioprine). Seven of the nine (78%) non-kidney-transplants recipients of technically successful pancreas allografts from HLA-identical siblings have functioning grafts. Causes of graft failure include allograft rejection, fibrosis secondary to duct injection, or selective beta-cell destruction independent of rejection. Of the 24 recipients who are currently insulin-dependent, 14 have normal or near-normal glucose tolerance test results, while 10 have abnormal results, even though they are otherwise euglycaemic. The patient population to whom pancreas transplantation is applied is gradually changing, and non-uraemic, non-kidney-transplant patients currently comprise the majority of our cases (17 out of 24 in 1983; nine of the 17 currently have functioning grafts). We now prefer the enteric drainage technique.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)