Donors with a maximum body weight of 50 kg for simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation.
BACKGROUND
Pediatric donors are rarely used for simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPK). But the age of the donors may be less important than the body weight (BW). Therefore we retrospectively analyzed our data on SPK donors with a maximum BW of 50 kg.


METHODS
Between June 1994 and December 2003, 22 patients received SPK transplants from cadaveric donors with a maximum BW of 50 kg (range, 25-50 kg; median, 42.4 kg). The median donor-recipient weight ratio was 0.61 (range, 0.47-0.91).


RESULTS
Two kidney grafts (9.1%) displayed delayed graft function (2 and 9 dialyses). One patient needed insulin for 2 days (<20 IU/d), and the other patient for 1 month at a maximum of 7 IU/d. Four pancreas grafts (18.2%) were lost owing to graft thrombosis. One-year survival for patients was 95.5%; for kidneys, 86.4%; and for the pancreas, 72.7%. After a median observation period of 78 months, 6 acute rejection episodes were observed in 5 patients (22.7%). Five acute rejections were treated successfully, but 1 patient lost both organs. Two patients died of severe infections, at 3 months and 3 years, respectively, after SPK. Four kidney and 3 pancreas grafts developed chronic allograft dysfunction.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that 1-year graft function in this series was less than the results reported to the International Pancreas Transplant Registry. The Main reason for early pancreas loss was graft thrombosis (18.2%). After a median observation period of 78 months, pancreas graft survival was 59.1%.
Schulz
T
T
Department of Surgery, Knappschafts Hospital, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany. tim.schulz@uniklinkum-giessen.de
Schenker
P
P
Flecken
M
M
Kapischke
M
M
D000328:Adult; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016035:Pancreas Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000502:physiology*; D018579:Patient Selection; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*