Intraoperative reperfusion assessment of human pancreas allografts using hyperspectral imaging (HSI)

The most common causes of early graft loss in pancreas transplantation are insufficient blood supply and leakage of the intestinal anastomosis. Therefore, it is critical to monitor graft perfusion and oxygenation during the early post-transplant period. The goal of our pilot study was to evaluate the utility of hyperspectral imaging (HSI) in monitoring the microcirculation of the graft and adequate perfusion of the intestinal anastomosis during pancreatic allotransplantation.

We imaged pancreatic grafts and intestinal anastomosis in real-time in three consecutive, simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantations using the TIVITA^® HSI system. Further, the intraoperative oxygen saturation (StO₂), tissue perfusion (near-infrared perfusion index, NIR), organ hemoglobin index (OHI), and tissue water index (TWI) were measured 15 minutes after reperfusion by HSI.

All pancreas grafts showed a high and homogeneous StO₂ (92.6%±10.45%). Intraoperative HSI analysis of the intestinal anastomosis displayed significant differences of StO₂ (graft duodenum 67.46%±5.60% vs. recipient jejunum: 75.93%±4.71%, P<0.001) and TWI {graft duodenum: 0.63±0.09 [I (Index)] vs. recipient jejunum: 0.72±0.09 [I], P<0.001}. NIR and OHI did not display remarkable differences {NIR duodenum: 0.68±0.06 [I] vs. NIR jejunum: 0.69±0.04 [I], P=0.747; OHI duodenum: 0.70±0.12 [I] vs. OHI jejunum: 0.68±0.13 [I], P=0.449}. All 3 patients had an uneventful postoperative course with one displaying a Banff 1a rejection which was responsive to steroid treatment.

Our study shows that contact-free HSI has potential utility as a novel tool for real-time monitoring of human pancreatic grafts after reperfusion, which could improve the outcome of pancreas transplantation. Further investigations are required to determine the predictive value of intraoperative HSI imaging.