Simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation is highly successful for selected diabetic patients with renal failure, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in Madison.
Hans W. Sollinger, MD, PhD, and colleagues reached that conclusion after studying 500 simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplants that were performed at the university from December 1985 to October 1997.
At one, five, and ten years postoperatively, patient survival was 96%, 89%, and 76%, respectively; kidney function continued in 89%, 80%, and 67% of patients; and pancreas function in 88%, 78%, and 67% of patients at the same time intervals.
Beginning in June 1995, mycophenolate mofetil was used for immunosuppression. In the 109 patients who received mycophenolate mofetil, the one-year patient survival was 98%; kidney function, 94%; and pancreas function, 93%.
Reporting their findings in the Annals of Surgery (1998;228:284-296), Dr. Sollinger and colleagues wrote that simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation "is clearly the procedure of choice in well-selected uremic patients with type 1 diabetes."
In a discussion of the paper, which was presented at the 118th annual meeting of the American Surgical Association in April, transplant surgeon Thomas E. Starzl, MD, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center called the team's research a "landmark paper."
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