Objective: To study the effect of combined transplantation of the liver and the pancreas in diabetic patients with end-stage liver disease, and explore the optimal surgical procedure.
Methods: Simultaneous orthotopic liver and heterotopic pancreas-duodenum transplantations were performed in a patient diagnosed as having chronic hepatitis B, hepatocirrhosis, hepatic cellular cancer, and insulin-dependent diabetes. Immunosuppression therapy utilized prednisone, tacrolimus (FK506), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), and simulect. The function of the liver graft, serum amylase and lipase, blood glucose, and C-peptide were monitored after transplantation.
Results: Insulin was withdrawn at the 6th day after operation, good liver allograft functional recovery was achieved, without such complications as pancreatitis, thrombosis, and localized infections.
Conclusion: End-stage liver disease with concomitant insulin-dependent diabetes is the indication for combined liver-pancreas transplantations, for which simultaneous orthotopic liver and heterotopic pancreas-duodenum transplantations may constitute the optimal surgical approaches as the primary choice.