Nine-year-old boy youngest in UK to undergo rare pancreatic surgery

Newcastle surgeons remove Archie Routledge’s pancreas while transplanting insulin-producing cells into his liver

A nine-year-old boy is settling back into family life after becoming the youngest person in the UK to undergo a marathon, life-saving surgical procedure that involves removing the pancreas and injecting its insulin-producing cells into the liver.

Archie Routledge, from Workington, in Cumbria, has a rare genetic condition that causes hereditary pancreatitis. It inflames the pancreas causing debilitating abdominal pain and significantly increases the risk of pancreatic cancer in later life.