Results of pancreas transplantation in the United States for 1987-90 from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Registry with comparison to 1984-87 results.

An outcome analysis was performed on pancreas transplants in the United States reported to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Registry from its inception on 1 October 1987 to 21 October 1990 (n=1021). These cases comprise nearly one-third of the 3082 pancreas transplants reported to the International Pancreas Transplant Registry (1819 U.S., 1263 non-U.S.) from 1 December 1966 to 31 December 1990, including 619 in 1990 (528 U.S., 91 non-U.S.). Nearly all pancreas transplants in the U.S. during the 1987-90 period were by the bladder-drainage (BD) technique (92%). The overall patient and pancreas graft actuarial survival rates were 92% and 72% at 1 year. Patient survival rates were similar in all recipient categories, but pancreas graft survival rates were significantly higher (p less than 0.001) in recipients of a simultaneous pancreas and kidney (SPK) transplant (n=883) than in recipients of a pancreas after a kidney (PAK, n=112) or a pancreas transplant alone (PTA, n=71), being 77%, 52%, and 54%, respectively, at 1 yr. Kidney graft survival at 1 yr in U.S. SPK recipients was 86%. Most grafts (81%) were preserved in University of Wisconsin (UW) solution, and more than half were stored greater than 12 hours, with no difference in outcome with increasing duration of storage. At 1 yr, functional survival rates were 72% for U.S. pancreas grafts stored for either less than 12 (n=439), 12-24 (n=422), or 24-30 h (n=42). For grafts stored greater than 30 h (n=8), the 1-yr functional survival rate was 50% (p=ns versus the other storage times). On univariate analysis, no effect of HLA antigen mismatching on outcome for 1987-90 U.S. cases could be discerned. The results in the UNOS Registry were compared to the results for U.S. cases in the International Pancreas Transplant Registry performed between 1 January 1984 and 30 September 1987. In all recipient categories the pancreas graft functional survival rates were significantly higher in the 1987-90 (UNOS) than in the 1984-87 (pre-UNOS) era. A Cox multivariate analysis of 1984-90 cases showed the relative risk for pancreas graft loss to be significantly less (p less than 0.05) with bladder-drainage, with simultaneous transplantation of the kidney, with use of UW solution for preservation, and with 0-1 HLA-A, B, DR or 0 HLA-DR mismatches.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)