Can the preprocurement pancreas suitability score predict ischemia-reperfusion injury and graft survival after pancreas transplantation?

BACKGROUND

Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is common after pancreas transplantation, leading to pancreatitis or thrombosis with the need for relaparotomy or even graft loss. Optimal donor selection may reduce the postoperative morbidity of IRI. The Eurotransplant preprocurement pancreas suitability score (P-PASS) seeks to identify ideal donors with a value <17. Owing to the organ shortage the waiting time for pancreas transplantation is increasing, a problem that may be addressed with the use of extended-criteria donors. We analyzed our pancreas transplantations regarding postoperative complications according to the P-PASS. To reflect IRI we used the peak C-reactive protein (CRP) levels during the first 3 postoperative days.

METHODS

From January 2009 to July 2010, we transplanted 52 pancreas grafts, including, 50 simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantations (SPK), 1 after a kidney graft, and 1 alone. For 3 SPK donors the P-PASS was not available. All transplantations were performed using systemic venous and enteric drainage. The immunosuppression protocol included antibody induction with antithymocyte globulin and maintenance therapy with steroids, tacrolimus, and mycophenolate mofetil. The peak CRP in the first 3 postoperative days was used as a marker for IRI.

RESULTS

The mean P-PASS of our donors was 16.4 ± 2.6 (range, 12-22). We compared 24 patients receiving organs from "ideal" donors (P-PASS <17; ID) with 25 receiving grafts from extended-criteria donors (P-PASS ≥17; ED). There was no significant difference in the incidence of graft loss among ID versus ED grafts (20.8% vs 20.0%; P = 1.0). Comparing the rates of postoperative complications of patients, we did not observe a significant difference in graft thrombosis (4.2% vs 16.0%; P = .349), relaparotomy (29.2% vs 40.0%; P = .551), a pancreatic fistula (37.5% vs 28.0%; P = .543), or the length of hospital stay (36.5 ± 19.2 vs 37.4 ± 20.8 days; P = .875), respectively. Regarding IRI, there was no significant difference in peak CRP values (14.1 ± 5.5 vs 16.2 ± 6.0 mg/dL; P = .211).

CONCLUSION

This single center analysis failed to show that P-PASS significantly predicted pancreas graft survival, postoperative morbidity, or IRI severity. These findings suggested a chance to increase the donor pool using extended-criteria donors.