Use of echocardiography to evaluate improvement in cardiac function following pancreas transplantation

Echocardiography was performed on 22 pancreas-kidney and 11 diabetic kidney alone recipients. Each patient was studied preoperatively, and at 6, and 12 months posttransplant. Systolic function was determined by shortening fraction and diastolic function by early-active (E-A) peak velocity ratio. Left ventricular geometry was determined by interventricular septal thickness, and total left ventricular mass. The kidney alone group experienced only improved systolic function at six months (24.9 to 33.8%. P ≤ .02). In contrast, the pancreas-kidney group showed improved shortening fraction (23.5 to 33.5%, P ≤ .001), E-A peak velocity ratio (.82 to .98, P ≤ .001), interventricular septal thickness (11.8 to 11.2 mm, P ≤ .001), and ventricular mass (262.5 to 214.4 gm, P ≤ .001) at 6 months which continued to show even more improvement at 12 months (P ≤ .05).