Abstract

Background: Bacteraemia is one of the known complications in the simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPKTX) Objective: This study aims at evaluation of the frequency of microbial isolates and their susceptibility profiles; cultured from clinical samples obtained from the blood and the tips of blood vessel catheters of 26 simultaneous pancreas-kidney (SPKTX) recipients suspected of bacteraemia in the early post-transplant period.
Material/Methods: Data on microbiologic blood culture of 26 adult patients
undergoing SPKTX were collected prospectively from 2001 to the end of 2006.
The isolation and identification of cultured microorganisms was performed
according to standard microbiological procedures and commercially available tests. Susceptibility of the strains to antibacterial agents was made by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines.
Results: All the patients were followed prospectively for the first four weeks after surgery. From 66 clinical samples in total 23 microbial isolates: from  blood samples taken from 17 recipients and the tips of blood vessel catheters from 12 recipients were cultured. The most commonly isolated were: Gram-positive bacteria (73.9%) with domination of staphylococci (64.7%): with presence of MRCNS strains (81.8%). Gram-negative bacteria comprised 17.4% of positive cultures. Yeast-like fungi comprised 8.7% of positive cultures with domination of Candida glabrata.
Conclusions: In conclusion in our study predominated Gram (+) bacteria (73.9% of isolates). The increased proportion of MDR bacteria and fungi to antimicrobial agents may be due to the frequent use of these agents for prophylaxis of bacterial infections in patients. MDR strains can cause severe BSI's in patients after SPKTX.

Keywords: Pancreas Transplantation