Impact of Early Pancreatic Graft Loss on Outcome after Simultaneous Pancreas–Kidney Transplantation (SPKT)—A Landmark Analysis
Lukas Lehner, Robert Öllinger, Brigitta Globke, Marcel G. Naik, Klemens Budde, Johann Pratschke, Kai‐Uwe Eckardt, Andreas Kahl, Kun Zhang, Fabian Halleck
Abstract
(1) Background: Simultaneous pancreas–kidney transplantation (SPKT) is a standard therapeutic option for patients with diabetes mellitus type I and kidney failure. Early pancreas allograft failure is a complication potentially associated with worse outcomes. (2) Methods: We performed a landmark analysis to assess the impact of early pancreas graft loss within 3 months on mortality and kidney graft survival over 10 years. This retrospective single-center study included 114 adult patients who underwent an SPKT between 2005 and 2018. (3) Results: Pancreas graft survival rate was 85.1% at 3 months. The main causes of early pancreas graft loss were thrombosis (6.1%), necrosis (2.6%), and pancreatitis (2.6%). Early pancreas graft loss was not associated with reduced patient survival (p = 0.168) or major adverse cerebral or cardiovascular events over 10 years (p = 0.741) compared to patients with functioning pancreas, after 3 months. Moreover, kidney graft function (p = 0.494) and survival (p = 0.461) were not significantly influenced by early pancreas graft loss. (4) Conclusion: In this study, using the landmark analysis technique, early pancreas graft loss within 3 months did not significantly impact patient or kidney graft survival over 10 years.