Allograft biopsies in management of pancreas transplant recipients

Pancreatic transplantation is becoming increasingly accepted as a treatment modality for Type 1 diabetes mellitus. When allograft dysfunction is noted during follow up of patients, a biopsy is an extremely useful tool to diagnose various forms of rejection, and to rule out non-immunologic causes of graft malfunction, such as donor disease, ischaemic/preservation injury, vascular thrombosis, pancreatitis, post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, technical complications and recurrence of diabetes mellitus. In addition to its role in establishing the primary diagnosis, a biopsy can grade the severity of pathology present, help determine the most appropriate therapy, and provide information relevant to graft prognosis.