SOLITARY PANCREAS TRANSPLANTATION - EXPERIENCE WITH 62 CONSECUTIVE CASES

OBJECTIVE - To determine the safety and efficacy of solitary pancreas transplantation in the treatment of IDDM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - A single-center retrospective case series of 62 consecutive solitary pancreas transplants (20 sequential pancreas after kidney, 42 pancrea s transplants alone) performed in 57 adult IDDM patients was studied. Indications for solitary pancreas transplantation were I) the presence of two Or more overt diabetic complications and/or 2) glucose hyperla bility with hypoglycemic unawareness and impaired quality of life. The recipient group consisted of 31 men and 26 women with a mean age of 3 8 years (range 25-62) and a mean duration of diabetes of 26 years (ran ge 14-52). Mean pretransplant glycohemoglobin level was 9.9 +/- 2.6%. Organ acceptance was restricted to ideal donors and mandated a minimum of a two-antigen match (mean human leukocyte antigen ABDR match 2.7). The mean told ischemia time was 16.6 h. Whole-organ pancreas transpla ntation was performed with bladder drainage by the duodenal segment te chnique. All patients mere managed with either triple or quadruple imm unosuppression. Monitoring included prospective urine cytology as well as cystoscopic transduodenal needle biopsies. RESULTS - The mean leng th of initial hospital stay was 18 days, and mean hospital charges wer e $106,341. The incidences of rejection, infection, and surgical compl ications were 70, 55, and 47%, respectively. Overall patient and graft survival rates were 86 and 52%, respectively with a mean follow-up of 28 months. All patients with functioning grafts had excellent metabol ic control (mean glycohemoglobin level 5.1%) and achieved good rehabil itation. CONCLUSIONS - Despite morbidity, solitary pancreas transplant ation can be performed with improving success, can enhance quality of life, and can offer an opportunity to arrest secondary diabetic compli cations.