Case series of pancreas transplant in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Objectives: To report our experience in a rare complex procedure and graft survival data Design: Retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected data of patients undergoing pancreas transplant in two centers in Saudi Arabia Setting: Tertiary care centers in Saudi Arabia Subject: Patients who underwent pancreas transplant Intervention: Pancreas transplant Main Outcome Measure(s): Report our experience in a complex surgical procedure and graft survival Results: We collected a total of 21 cases of pancreas transplant for type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients (9 females and 12 males). Mean age at transplant was 34.9 +/- 7.47 years and mean DM duration was 148 +/- 119 months. Out of the 21 cases, four (19%) were pancreas after kidney transplants while the remaining 17 (81%) were simultaneous pancreas-kidney. Regarding the surgical technique, all procedures were standardized to be implanted in right iliac fossa with enteric drainage. The mean cold ischemia time was 591.7 +/- 185.82 minutes and mean graft survival was 624 +/- 396 months. The mean length of admission was 17.8 +/- 15.14 days. Mean graft survival (defined by return to insulin use) was 624 +/- 395 months. Unfortunately, data regarding C-peptide level was lacking in our sample size. One patient underwent graft excision after 28 days of acute life-threatening graft rejection. In our series, we had zero 90-day mortality. Conclusion: Despite our initial small numbers, they prove that the procedure is feasible and doable in our centers with good initial graft survival and acceptable morbidity and mortality.