Background: Given the shortage of organ donors, there is a critical need to use all available pancreas grafts for transplantation. In the Eurotransplant region, only 26% of all offered pancreas grafts were transplanted during 2007. Pediatric donors are rarely used in pancreas transplantation.
Methods: In this case report, we describe a retroperitoneal en bloc pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPK) with systemic venous anastomosis and duodenoduodenostomy using grafts from an 11-year-old child. The bloc was transplanted in a 42-year-old type I diabetic patient with end-stage renal disease. The proximal end of the aortic graft was closed. Arterial anastomosis was performed end-to-end between right internal iliac artery and the aortic graft because of severe atherosclerosis. Donor portal vein and donor renal vein were anastomosed separately end-to-side to recipient inferior vena cava. Exocrine drainage was carried out with a side-to-side duodenoduodenostomy. Both grafts were in the retroperitoneal position.
Results: The pancreas graft functioned immediately, the kidney graft resumed function at 7 days posttransplantation. Graft function was excellent over a follow-up of 18 months. The patient had no episodes of acute rejection or graft dysfunction, no severe infections, and no additional morbidity from the modified technique of retroperitoneal pancreas transplantation using duodenoduodenostomy.
Conclusions: This case indicates that pediatric donors could be used more frequently in pancreas transplantation for adult recipients and could increase the organ donor pool. En bloc SPK is a feasible and safe technique. Further studies are required to confirm the benefits of a retroperitoneal SPK using duodenoduodenostomy.