title: Pancreas survival in simultaneous pancreas-kidney and pancreas-after-kidney transplantations: a five-year follow-up report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pancreas transplantation methods, such as simultaneous pancreas-kidney (SPK) transplantation and pancreas-after-kidney (PAK) transplantation, have become the most important treatments for patients with type-1 diabetes mellitus (DM)-related end-stage renal diseases (ESRD). The purpose of the study was to compare the clinical results of the pancreas graft in patients after SPK and PAK transplantations and to present the findings of our 5-year follow-up.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 55 patients who had kidney and pancreas transplantation between February 2003 and December 2010 were included in the study. The patients were divided into 2 groups based on the timing of the pancreas transplantation: SPK (n=21) and PAK (n=34).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients in the SPK group consisted of 13 males and 8 females, with a mean age of 33.6±6.8 years; whereas 25 males and 9 females formed the PAK group, with a mean age of 32.0±6.0 years. In the early postoperative period, the SPK group had 3 patients with vascular thrombosis (2 venous, 1 arterial) and the PAK group had 7 patients with thrombosis (4 venous, 3 arterial) (p=0.319). At the end of the 5-year follow-up, the patient, kidney and pancreas survival rates in the SPK group were 95.2%, 95.2%, and 61.9% respectively, and the corresponding values in the PAK group were 97%, 91.2%, 61.8% (p=0.382, p=0.504, p=0.927).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We concluded that PAK is just as effective as SPK to prevent the destructive effects of DM when the waiting time for SPK is long and a potential live donor is present.
authors.affiliation: Akdeniz University, Organ Transplantation Institute, Antalya, Turkey. adinckan@akdeniz.edu.tr
authors.forename: Ayhan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dinckan
authors.forename: Ibrahim
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Aliosmanoglu
authors.forename: Huseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kocak
authors.forename: Ramazan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sari
authors.forename: Okan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Erdogan
authors.forename: Zeki
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ertug
authors.forename: Gultekin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Suleymanlar
authors.forename: Alihan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gurkan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality*; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D016035:Pancreas Transplantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome