Effectiveness of Preceding Solo Kidney Transplantation for Type 1 Diabetes With End-Stage Renal Failure.

UNLABELLED: Preceding solo kidney transplantation for type 1 diabetes with end-stage renal failure is controversial because of less pancreatic graft survival in pancreas transplantation after kidney transplantation (PAK) than in simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation (SPK).

METHODS

To study the effectiveness of preceding solo kidney transplantation for type 1 diabetes with end-stage renal failure, comparative retrospective analysis was performed between SPK (n = 232) and PAK (n = 39) that were performed until December 2016.

RESULTS

At 1, 3, and 5 years, pancreatic graft survival in SPK was 87.5%, 86.4%, and 82.8%, respectively, and 87.1%, 65.0%, and 49.1%, respectively, in PAK, which showed lesser long-term graft survival than SPK. Because 10 cases out of 16 (62.5%) failed into pancreatic graft loss with rejection in PAK, which was about 3 times more than in SPK, control of rejection is very important; rejection episodes were decreased by rabbit antithymocyte globulin induction resulting in improved graft survival. Five-year patient survival was 88.0% in SPK and 96.6% in PAK.

CONCLUSION

Considering patient survival, preceding solo kidney transplantation for type 1 diabetes with end-stage renal failure should be performed if a donor is available.