Background
Vascular failures are serious complications in pancreas transplantation. Open surgery is a reliable and quick intervention method, but it carries a risk of infection and bleeding. Endovascular procedures are rare among patients after a SPK, but are becoming more frequently used. One of the main risks of the endovascular approach is that the renal function impairment caused by contrast agent.
Material/Methods
We performed a retrospective analysis of 200 transplanted pancreases at our center over the last 14 years. The analyses included those patients after pancreas transplantation who required the most challenging vascular interventions and ones that were non-standard for the procedure.
Results
Severe vascular conditions requiring endovascular intervention were observed in 3% of SPKs. In one retransplanted patient, there was an acute ischemia of the lower extremity due to the narrowing of the common iliac artery following a previous transplantectomy, above the new pancreas graft anastomoses. In another patient, local inflammation led to the disruption of the external iliac artery on the level of transplantectomy, caused severe bleeding, and we had to implement a stent-graft to reconstruct the iliac artery wall. A third patient had a pseudoaneurysm demanding further treatment with a stent-graft implemented into the femoral artery due to a pseudoaneurysm of the right external iliac artery.
Conclusions
Intravenous interventions in patients with a transplanted or retransplanted pancreas are safe and feasible. It is a technically demanding procedure, but the risk of kidney graft function deterioration, as well as of bleeding due to the high dose of heparin used, is lower than with open vascular surgery.
Background
The main purpose of diagnostic imaging after pancreas transplantation is to exclude potential complications. As long as standard anatomical imaging such as sonography, contrast-enhanced computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are sufficient to display macroscopic vasculature, early changes within the graft caused by insufficient microperfusion will not be displayed for evaluation.
Material/Methods
Patients with pancreas allograft function in good condition were included in the study. No specific preparation was demanded before the MRI examination. The results of MRI were correlated with Igls criteria. It was a preliminary study to examine diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) value and safety in pancreas transplantation.
Results
Our results indicated that higher fractional anisotropy (FA) values of the graft’s head were associated with delayed graft function and insulin intake. We also compared grafts’ images in early and late periods and found differences in T1 signal intensity values. DTI is a reliable noninvasive tool, requiring no contrast agent, to assess graft microstructure in correlation with its function, with FA values showing the most consistent results. By Igls criteria, no graft failure, 76% had optimal function, 10% had good function, and 14% had marginal function.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that DTI can be safely used in patients after pancreas transplantation and is advantageous in detecting early as well as late postoperative complications such as intra-abdominal fluid collection, malperfusion, and ischemia of the graft. Our findings correspond with clinical condition and Igls criteria. DTI is free of ionizing agents and is safe for kidney grafts.
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