Background Total-pancreatectomy (TP) with intraportal-islet-auto-transplantation (IAT) can relieve pain and preserve beta-cell-mass in patients with chronic-pancreatitis (CP) when other-therapies fail. Reported is a >30-year-single-center-series. Study Design 409 patients (53 children, 5–18 yrs) with CP underwent TP-IAT from Feb/1977–Sept/2011; (etiology idiopathic-41%; SOD/biliary-9%; genetic-14%; divisum-17%; alcohol-7%; other-12%); mean age-35.3 yrs,); 74% female; prior-surgeries 21%--Puestow procedure 9%, Whipple 6%, distal pancreatectomy 7%; other 2%). Islet-function was classified as insulin-independent for those on no insulin; partial if known C-peptide positive or euglycemic on once-daily-insulin; and insulin-dependent if on standard basal–bolus diabetic regimen. An SF-36-survey for Quality-of-Life (QOL)) was completed before and in serial follow-up by patients done since 2007 with an integrated-survey that added in 2008. Results Actuarial-patient-survival post-TP-IAT was 96% in adults and 98% in children (1-year) and; 89% and 98% (5-years). Complications requiring relaparotomy occurred in 15.9%, bleeding (9.5%) being most common. IAT-function is achieved in 90% (C-peptide >0.6 ng/ml). At 3 years, 30% were insulin-independent (25% in adults, 55% in children) and 33% had partial-function. Mean HbA1C was <7.0% in 82%. Prior pancreas surgery lowered islet-yield (2712vs4077/kg, p=.003). Islet yield [<2500/kg (36%); 2501–5000/kg (39%); >5000/kg (24%)] correlated with degree of function with insulin-independent rates at 3 yrs of 12, 22 and 72%, partial function 33, 62 and 24%. All patients had pain before TP-IAT and nearly all were on daily-narcotics. After TP-IAT, 85% had pain-improvement. By two years 59% had ceased-narcotics. All children were on narcotics before, 39% at follow-up; pain improved in 94%; 67% became pain-free. In the SF-36 survey, there was significant improvement from baseline in all dimensions including the Physical and Mental Component Summaries (P<0.01), whether on narcotics or not. Conclusions TP can ameliorate pain and improve QOL in otherwise-refractory-CP-patients, even if narcotic-withdrawal is delayed or incomplete because of prior long-term use. IAT preserves meaningful islet function in most patients and substantial islet function in >2/3 of patients with insulin-independence occurring in one-quarter of adults and half the children.

Objective Describe the surgical technique, complications and long term outcomes of total pancreatectomy and islet auto transplantation (TP-IAT) in a large series of pediatric patients. Summary Background Data Surgical management of childhood pancreatitis is not clear; partial resection or drainage procedures often provide transient pain relief, but long term recurrence is common due to the diffuse involvement of the pancreas. Total pancreatectomy (TP) removes the source of the pain, while islet auto transplantation (IAT) potentially can prevent or minimize TP-related diabetes. Methods Retrospective review of 75 children undergoing TP-IAT for chronic pancreatitis who had failed medical, endoscopic or surgical treatment between 1989–2012. Results Pancreatitis pain and the severity of pain statistically improved in 90% of patients after TP-IAT (p =<0.001). The relief from narcotics was sustained. Of the 75 patients undergoing TP-IAT, 31 (41.3%) achieved insulin independence. Younger age (p=0.032), lack of prior Puestow (p=0.018), lower body surface area (p=0.048), IEQ per Kg Body Weight (p=0.001) and total IEQ (100,000) (0.004) were associated with insulin independence. By multivariate analysis, 3 factors were associated with insulin independence after TP-IAT:(1) male gender, (2) lower body surface area and the (3) higher total IEQ per kilogram body weight. Total IEQ (100,000) was the single factor most strongly associated with insulin independence (OR = 2.62; p value < 0.001). Conclusions TP-IAT provides sustained pain relief and improved quality of life. The β cell function is dependent on islet yield. TP-IAT is an effective therapy for children with painful pancreatitis that fail medical and or endoscopic management

Background Chronic-pancreatitis is a debilitating-disease resulting from many etiologies. The-subset with hereditary/genetic defects (HGP) not only has chronic-pain, but also an increased-risk for pancreatic-cancer. The long-term-outcomes of TP-IAT for chronic pancreatitis due-to-HGP are not clear. Study Design Review of a prospectively-maintained-database of 484 TP-IAT-from-1977-2012 at a single-center. The-outcomes (pain-relief, narcotic-use, β cell-function, health-related quality of-life-measures of patients-that-received TP-IAT for hereditary/genetic-defects (PRSS1 (n=38), SPINK1 (n=9), CFTR (n=14) and Familial (n=19) were-evaluated-and-compared to those with non-hereditary/genetic-etiology. Results All 80 patients with HGP were narcotic-dependent and failed-endoscopic-management or direct-pancreatic-surgery. Post TP-IAT, 90% of the patients-were-pancreatitis-pain-free with sustained-pain-relief; over 65% had partial or full β-cell-function.-Compared to non-hereditary etiologies, HGP were-younger (22 yrs vs.38 yrs p=<0.001), had-pancreatitis-pain of longer-duration (11.6±1.1 vs. 9.0±0.4 yrs p=0.016), had a higher-pancreas-fibrosis-score (7±0.2 vs. 4.8±0.1 p=<0.001), and-trended-toward-lower-Islet-yield (3,435 ± 361 IEQ vs. 3850± 128 IEQ p=0.28). Using-multivariate-logistic-regression, (1) non-HGP-etiology (p value=0.019) (2) lower severity-of-pancreas-fibrosis (p value < 0.001), (3) shorter-duration-of-years with pancreatitis (p value = 0.008) and (4) higher-transplant IEQ per KG body-weight (p value =<0.001) were-more likely-to-achieve-insulin-independence (p value < 0.001). There was a significant-improvement in HRQoL from-baseline, by SF-36, in physical-and-mental-component HRQoL scores (p <0.001). None-of-the-patients in the entire-cohort-developed-cancer of pancreatic-origin in the liver or elsewhere during 2,936 person-years of follow-up. Conclusions TP-IAT in patients with chronic pancreatitis due to HGP etiology provides long-term pain relief (90%) and preservation-of-beta-cell-function. Patients with chronic-painful pancreatitis due to HGP with a high-life-time-risk of pancreatic-cancer should be considered earlier for TP-IAT before pancreatic-inflammation results in higher-degree of pancreatic-fibrosis and islet-cell-function-loss.

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The shortage of deceased donor organs for solid organ transplantation continues to be an ongoing dilemma. One approach to increase the number of pancreas transplants is to share organs between procurement regions. To assess for the effects of organ importation, we reviewed the outcomes of 1014 patients undergoing deceased donor pancreas transplant at a single center. We performed univariate and multivariate analyses of the association of donor, recipient and surgical characteristics with patient outcomes. Organ importation had no effect on graft or recipient survival for recipients of solitary pancreas transplants. Similarly, there was no effect on technical failure rate, graft survival or long-term patient survival for simultaneous kidneypancreas (SPK) recipients. In contrast, there was a significant and independent increased risk of death in the first year in SPK recipients of imported organs. SPK recipients had longer hospitalizations and increased hospital costs. This increased medical complexity may make these patients more susceptible to short-term complications resulting from the longer preservation times of import transplants. These findings support the continued use of organ sharing to reduce transplant wait times but highlight the importance of strategies to reduce organ preservation times.