Pancreas graft drainage in recipient duodenum: preliminary experience

Pancreas graft survival has continuously improved over the years to become a main treatment option of uncontrolled complicated diabetes. Rejection remains the major challenge as it often goes unnoticed until severe damage of the graft manifests itself by elevated blood sugar. Pancreas enzymes monitoring in the blood and in the urine is a sensitive marker of rejection but lack of specificity. Biopsy remains the gold standard. Cystoscopy-guided biopsy of bladder-drained pancreas has a good success rate for obtaining tissue but the vesical drainage exposes to metabolic and urologic morbidity. Percutaneous pancreas biopsy can be performed with a low morbidity rate but severe complications can occur. We discuss a technique of pancreas transplantation with the drainage of exocrine secretions of the pancreatic graft in the recipient duodenum, which permits easy monitoring of the graft by upper endoscopy of the duodenum.