title: Metabolic control and progression of complications in insulin-dependent diabetic patients after kidney transplantation.
abstract: Patient survival and progression of complications were monitored for 3 years after kidney transplantation in 29 type-1 diabetic patients. Ten age-matched, non-diabetic kidney-transplanted patients served as controls. Five diabetic patients died during follow-up (three cardiovascular events, two infections), three diabetic patients had a non-fatal myocardial infarction and four developed cerebrovascular complications after transplantation. Of the diabetic patients, 69% suffered from proliferative retinopathy before transplantation; 20% of them improved, 65% remained unchanged and 15% deteriorated after transplantation. Motor but not sensory conduction velocity measured from the nervus medianus improved after transplantation. Autonomic neuropathy was observed in 50% of the patients and was unaffected by transplantation. Glycaemic control did not improve significantly during follow-up (HbA1, 10.6 +/- 0.5% before and 9.5 +/- 0.6% 3 years after transplantation). Body weight increased in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients within 3 years after transplantation (from 68 +/- 2 to 77 +/- 6 kg in diabetics, P less than 0.01; from 167 +/- 4 to 77 +/- 6 kg in non-diabetics, P less than 0.01). Subcutaneous fat thickness measured from computer tomography scans of the calf increased in diabetic patients from 5.0 +/- 0.6 to 6.1 +/- 0.9 mm (P less than 0.05). However, the cross-sectional areas of triceps and calf muscles did not increase, suggesting that the increase in body weight was solely due to an increase in fat. It is clear that diabetes-related complications continue to progress and are not influenced by a successful kidney transplant.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Töölö Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ekstrand
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Groop
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pettersson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grönhagen-Riska
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Laatikainen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Matikainen
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Seppäläinen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Laasonen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Summanen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ollus
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001835:Body Weight; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003925:Diabetic Angiopathies / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis