Liver biopsy may facilitate pancreatic graft evaluation: Positive association between liver steatosis and pancreatic graft adipose infiltration.

Objectives: The number of pancreatic transplants has decreased in recent years. Pancreatic grafts have been underutilized compared to other solid grafts. One cause of discard is the macroscopic appearance of the pancreas, especially the presence of fatty infiltration. The current research is aimed at understanding any graft-related association between fatty tissue infiltration of the pancreas and liver steatosis.

Methods: From August 2013 to August 2014, a prospective cross-sectional clinical study using data from 54 multiple deceased donor organs was performed.

Results: Micro- and macroscopic liver steatosis were significantly correlated with the donor body mass index ([BMI]; p=0.029 and p=0.006, respectively). Positive gamma associations between pancreatic and liver macroscopic and microscopic findings (0.98; confidence interval [CI]: 0.95-1 and 0.52; CI 0.04-1, respectively) were observed. Furthermore, comparisons of liver microscopy findings showed significant differences between severe versus absent (p<0.001), severe versus mild (p<0.001), and severe versus moderate classifications (p<0.001). The area under the receiver operating curve was 0.94 for the diagnosis of steatosis by BMI evaluation using a cut-off BMI of 27.5 kg/m2, which yielded 100% sensitivity, 87% specificity, and 100% negative predictive value.

Conclusions: We observed a positive association of macroscopic and microscopic histopathological findings in steatotic livers with adipose infiltration of pancreatic grafts.