Report from the International Pancreas Transplant Registry.

From December, 1966 through 1990, 3082 pancreas transplants were reported to the International Registry. A detailed analysis was performed on the 2087 transplants in the 1986-90 data base; during this time the overall one year recipient and graft functional survival rates were 89% and 62%. Univariate analyses showed graft survival rates to be significantly higher with bladder drainage than with other duct management techniques, with a simultaneous kidney transplant than without, and with preservation in UW than other solutions. Storage up to 30 hours did not adversely effect results. Graft survival rates were significantly higher in North America than Europe, a discrepancy that persisted in a Cox proportional hazard analysis that also included duct management, recipient category, HLA-DR mismatching, immunosuppression with anti-T cell agents, preservation solution and duration, and year of transplant as the other variables; three were identified to have a significant (p less than 0.05) impact on the relative risk (RR) of graft loss: 1) Recipient category, with an RR of 0.43 when placed simultaneously with a kidney; 2) Year, with an RR of 0.76 for transplants performed in 1989-90 versus 1986-88; and 3) Location, with an RR of 0.75 for transplants in North America versus Europe. The technical failure rate was significantly lower in North America than Europe, but this was not an explanation for the differences in outcome, since the same factors sorted out as significant in a Cox proportional hazard analysis of technically successful cases only. Furthermore, logistic regression analysis showed retransplantation, duct management, recipient category, preservation solution, and storage time to significantly influence the technical failure rate. The risk of technical failure was lowest for primary, bladder-drained, simultaneous pancreas/kidney, less than 12 hour UW stored grafts; year and location of transplant were not significant factors. Pancreas transplant results continue to improve and are in the range of those for other solid organs.