Use of Georges Lopez Institute Preservation Solution IGL-1 in Pancreas Transplantation: A Series of 47 Cases

Graft preservation continues to be one of the main pillars of pancreas transplantation (PT). Surgical complications, possibly caused or facilitated by organ damage during preservation, continue to occur more frequently after PT than for any other abdominal organ. During the past few years, the Georges Lopez Institute preservation solution IGL-1 has been introduced with satisfactory results for the perfusion and cold storage of abdominal grafts such as kidney and liver.

Aspects related to 47 PTs with the use of IGL-1 as the only preservation solution performed from January 2012 to September 2017 at Hospital Santa Isabel, Blumenau, Brazil, were retrospectively analyzed.

Considering the 46 transplanted patients (1 patient underwent 2 PTs), graft loss followed by death occurred in 2 patients: 1 due to pancreatic thrombosis, and 1 due to sepsis. In addition, a 3rd patient died with a functioning graft due to sepsis of an infected hematoma. In 1 patient, graft loss occurred due to pancreatic thrombosis and was later retransplanted. One patient presented post-transplantation pancreatitis. The overall survival of patients in 1 month after transplantation was 95.7%, and graft survival in the 1st month was 93.6%.

In all patients transplanted with the use of IGL-1, normalization of pancreatic function occurred early after reperfusion, there was no delayed graft function, and all transplanted patients maintained a non-insulin-dependent status after transplantation. The use of IGL-1 as preservation solution for PT is safe and effective.