OBJECTIVE: Report our experience with 100 pancreas transplants performed in a period of seven years. METHODS. Between January 2001 and January 2008, 100 patients underwent pancreatic transplantation at our center, 88 simultaneous pancreas kidney transplantation (SPK) and 12 pancreas transplantation alone (PTA). All of these were primary transplants. Pancreas graft management of the exocrine drainage technique involved enteric drainage in 8 (all SPK) and bladder in 92 cases. The recipient systemic venous system was used for the pancreas graft venous effluent in all cases. Our last thirty patients submitted to SPK did not receive any induction therapy regardless of the PRA. SPK received basiliximab and PTA patients received thymoglubulin. Maintance imunossupression was with TAC, MMF and corticosteroids. Graft perfusion volume was limited to 800ml of Celsior or UW solution. RESULTS. Overall results show that the number of functioning pancreatic grafts is 64 after 100 performed. Graft losses were: rejection (8 cases), venous thrombosis (9 cases) arterial thrombosis(1 case), or surgical complications such as anastomotic leak (3 cases), perigraft infection (10 cases), pancreatitis of the graft(5 cases). Rejection was observed less frequently in SPK recipients 5 cases (5/92 recipients) than PTA recipients (3/12). Death was observed in 24 cases. CONCLUSION. Our impression is that pancreas transplantation is highly effective therapy for diabetes mellitus and there is still a role in the diabetes treatment for allograft transplantation in a near future.
Pancreas transplantation; Diabetes mellitus; Surgical complications
