Pancreas transplant results in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) United States of America (USA) Registry compared with non-USA data in the International Registry.

As of 1994, more than 6,300 pancreas transplants were reported to the IPTR. More than 4,300 were performed in the USA, including more than 3,000 since the inception of the UNOS Registry in October 1987. The BD technique was used for 96% of USA cases but only for 64% of non-USA cases. In the overall analysis of USA BD cadaveric pancreas transplants reported to the registry by August 1994 (n = 3,000), patient survival and pancreas graft function survival rates were 91% and 72% at one year, 87% and 67% at 2 years, and 84% and 62% at 3 years, respectively. When the USA data for BD cases were analyzed according to the 3 major recipient categories: SPK, (n = 2584); PAK (n = 241); and PTA (n = 175)], patient survival rates were no different (91%, 91%, and 90% at one year, respectively), but pancreas graft survival rates were significantly higher in the SPK than in the PAK and PTA categories (76%, 47%, and 48%, at one year, respectively). In the SPK group, kidney graft survival rate at one year was 85%. Although the overall results were not as good for non-USA as for USA pancreas transplants, this was probably because the results with non-BD techniques were not as good as when BD was used, and in Europe, more than one-third of the cases were by techniques other than BD. The patient, pancreas, and kidney graft survival rates at one year for BD SPK transplants in Europe (n = 579) and other non-USA locations (n = 66) were similar to those in the USA; in Europe they were 92%, 78% and 84%, respectively. The graft survival rates for solitary pancreas transplants, however, were higher in the USA. Outcomes were also compared according to whether induction immunotherapy in USA recipients included ALG/ATG, OKT3, or neither. In the SPK category, there was no difference among the protocols, with one-year graft survival rates being 76% in the ALG/ATG (n = 1,130), 78% in the OKT3, (n = 927) but 69% in the Neither (n = 294) group (which had a significantly lower graft survival). In the PAK category, the use of OKT3 (n = 49) was associated with lower graft survival rates than when ALG/ATG (n = 154) or neither (n = 37) were given (33%, 51%, and 48% at one year, respectively). In the PTA category, the use of ALG/ATG (n = 109) was associated with significantly higher one-year graft survival rates than when OKT3 (n = 55) or neither (n = 8) were used (52%, 46%, and none, respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)