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For patients who suffer from severe chronic pancreatitis, total pancreatectomy can alleviate pain, and islet autotransplantation (IAT) might preserve endocrine function and circumvent the complications of diabetes. Factors that determine success after this operation have not been clearly defined.From 2000 to 2004, 45 total or subtotal pancreatectomies with IAT were performed. Patient characteristics, narcotic usage and insulin requirements were recorded at routine followup. Narcotic usage was standardized by conversion to morphine equivalents (MEs). Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were performed to determine factors associated with insulin and narcotic independence.Forty-five patients (30 women, 15 men), with a mean age of 39 years (range 16 to 62 years) underwent total or completion (n=41) or subtotal (n=4) pancreatectomies with IAT. Forty percent of patients were insulin free after a mean followup of 18months (range 1 to 46months). Factors associated in univariate analyses with insulin independence included female gender (p=0.004), lower body weight (kg) (p=0.04), more islet equivalents per kg body weight (IEQ/kg) transfused (0.05), lower mean insulin requirement for the first 24hours postoperation (p=0.002), and lower mean insulin requirement at discharge (p=0.0005). A multiple logistic regression using gender, body mass index, and IEQ/kg identified female gender as the only notable variable associated with insulin independence. There was a notable reduction (p0.0001) of postoperative MEs (mean 90 mg) compared with preoperative MEs (mean 206 mg) for the entire cohort; 58% of patients are narcotic independent. In the subset of patients with5months followup (n=32), 23 (72%) are narcotic free, with a substantial decrease in ME usage (p=0.01).The likelihood of glycemic control after IAT is related to both patient characteristics and islet cell mass. Based on these data, more islet cells may be required for insulin independence than previously thought.

Purpose: Total pancreatectomy and autologous islet cell transplantation are being investigated as a novel surgical treatment for patients with chronic pancreatitis. Preliminary data has demonstrated the presence of enteric bacteria in solutions used to harvest islet cells. Subsequently, we started culturing autologous islet solutions to determine whether any concordance existed between these cultures and postoperative infectious complications. Methods: A retrospective analysis evaluated microbiologic cultures between July 2000 and November 2003; 33 patients underwent total or completion pancreatectomy and islet cell transplantation. Five patients were excluded due to incomplete culture data. Aerobic, anaerobic and fungal cultures were performed on all islet preparation solutions. Patient charts were examined for postoperative infectious complications. Microbiologic data from these infections was compared to pretransplant islet cultures. Islet cells from each patient were tested in vitrofor both function and viability. Results: Of the 28 patients, 25 (89.3%) had bacterial culture-positive media solutions. Only 4 patients (14.3%) had an infectious complication from which bacteria was isolated that corresponded to bacteria in their islet cell preparation. In vitro islet cell viability was greater than 95% in the pretransplant aliquots. Conclusion: These results suggest that transplantation of bacterial-positive islet cell solutions does not appear to increase the risk of postoperative infectious complications or impact islet cell viability. Therefore, prolonged antibiotic treatment against these specific bacteria beyond the perioperative period does not seem warranted.