A Prospective Study of the Effect of Gastroduodenal Artery Reconstruction on Duodenal Oxygenation and Enzyme Content After Pancreas Transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Whole pancreas transplantation provides durable glycemic control and can improve survival rate; however, it can carry an increased risk of surgical complications. One devastating complication is a duodenal leak at the site of enteroenteric anastomosis. The gastroduodenal artery (GDA) supplies blood to the donor duodenum and pancreas but is commonly ligated during procurement. Since we have not had expressive changes in pancreatic back table surgical techniques in the recent decades, we hypothesized whether back table GDA reconstruction, improving perfusion of the donor duodenum and head of the pancreas, could lead to fewer surgical complications in simultaneous pancreas-kidney (SPK) transplants. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between 2017 and 2021, we evaluated demographic information, postoperative complications, intraoperative donor duodenum, recipient bowel O2 tissue saturation, and patient morbidity through the Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI®). RESULTS: A total of 26 patients were included: 13 underwent GDA reconstruction (GDA-R), and 13 had GDA ligation (GDA-L). There were no pancreatic leaks in the GR group compared to 38% (5/13) in the GDA-L group (p = 0.03913). Intraoperative tissue oxygen saturation was higher in the GDA-R group than in the GDA-L (95.18 vs.76.88%, p < 0,001). We observed an increase in transfusion rate in GDA-R (p < 0.05), which did not result in a higher rate of exploration (p = 0.38). CCI® patient morbidity was also significantly lower in the GDA-R group (s < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study identified improved intraoperative duodenal tissue oxygen saturation in the GDA-R group with an associated reduction in pancreatic leaks and CCI® morbidity risk. A larger prospective multicenter study comparing the two methods is warranted.

Humoral immunity against SARS-CoV-2 variants including omicron in solid organ transplant recipients after three doses of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

Objectives: Solid organ transplant recipients (SOTR) receiving post-transplant immunosuppression show increased COVID-19-related mortality. It is unclear whether an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccines can overcome the reduced immune responsiveness against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants. Methods: We analysed humoral immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in 53 SOTR receiving SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Results: Following the initial vaccination series, 60.3% of SOTR showed no measurable neutralisation and only 18.9% demonstrated neutralising activity of > 90%. More intensive immunosuppression, antimetabolites in particular, negatively impacted antiviral immunity. While absolute IgG levels were lower in SOTR than controls, antibody titres against microbial recall antigens were higher. By contrast, SOTR showed reduced vaccine-induced IgG/IgA antibody titres against SARS-CoV-2 and its delta variants and fewer linear B-cell epitopes, indicating reduced B-cell diversity. Importantly, a third vaccine dose led to an increase in anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody titres and neutralising activity across alpha, beta and delta variants and to the induction of anti-SARS-CoV-2 CD4+ T cells in a subgroup of patients analysed. By contrast, we observed significantly lower antibody titres after the third dose with the omicron variant compared to the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and the improvement in neutralising activity was much less pronounced than for all the other variants. Conclusion: Only a small subgroup of solid organ transplant recipients is able to generate functional antibodies after an initial vaccine series; however, an additional vaccine dose resulted in dramatically improved antibody responses against all SARS-CoV-2 variants except omicron where antibody responses and neutralising activity remained suboptimal.

Elevated C-peptide Levels Are Associated With Acute Rejection in Kidney Pancreas Transplantation.

BACKGROUND: We assessed whether allograft rejection or failure can be predicted by an acute increase in C-peptide production from the transplanted pancreas. METHODS: Patients with a minimum of 5 years of follow-up post simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplant were identified. C-peptide levels were obtained during clinic visits routinely. Graft failure was defined as return to dependence on insulin therapy or return to dialysis for pancreas and kidney grafts, respectively. Protocol kidney allograft biopsies were performed at 3 and 12 months. For-cause biopsies were also performed. RESULTS: Acute rejections were detected in 11 patients on biopsy results of the renal allograft. C-peptide levels drawn prior to documented rejections were significantly higher in patients with acute rejection than patients with borderline or no rejection (P = .006). Receiver operating characteristics curves for C-peptide indicated greater accuracy in predicting rejection than simultaneously drawn serum creatinine or lipase. CONCLUSIONS: Higher C-peptide levels in simultaneous pancreas-kidney recipients is associated with acute rejection vs nonrejection.

Influence of Metabolic Syndrome on Prostate Cancer Stage, Grade, and Overall Recurrence Risk in Men Undergoing Radical Prostatectomy.

OBJECTIVE: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with an increased risk of finding prostate cancer overall and high-grade disease on biopsy. This study sought to determine if MetS is associated with adverse final pathology and risk of overall recurrence in men undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP). METHODS: Men undergoing RP (2004-2013) were identified using our prospectively maintained institutional database. MetS was defined by ≥3 of 5 components (obesity, dysglycemia, hypertension, low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, and high triglycerides). Multivariable logistic regression models were created for prostate cancer grade and stage on final pathology. Kaplan-Meier and multivariable Cox regression analyses were performed to model overall recurrence, defined by biochemical recurrence (postoperative serum prostate-specific antigen ≥0.2 ng/mL) or use of salvage therapies. RESULTS: Of 1939 men, 439 (22.6%) had MetS. MetS (≥3 vs. 0 components) was associated with an increased odds of Gleason 8-10 disease (odds ratio [OR] = 2.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.32-4.67, P = .005) and extraprostatic disease (OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.02-1.80, P = .04). Decreased use of nerve-sparing in men with MetS was noted. In unadjusted analyses, MetS was associated with a significantly increased risk of receiving salvage therapy (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.04-1.83, P = .03) and a near-significant increased overall recurrence risk (HR = 1.20, 95% CI = 0.94-1.53, P = .15). These associations were attenuated upon adjusting for disease-specific parameters (salvage therapy: HR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.76-1.40, P = .87; overall recurrence: HR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.72-1.21, P = .62). CONCLUSION: MetS is associated with an increased odds of extraprostatic and high-grade disease on final RP pathology, which appears to drive an increased risk of needing salvage therapy after RP. However, with more aggressive resection, differences in failure-free outcomes were attenuated, suggesting that men with MetS should not be precluded from RP.