Is pancreas transplantation getting old? Single-center experience in an aging society

Pancreas transplantation has become the major successful islet replacement therapy in type I diabetes mellitus over the last 40 years. Prognosis for these patients can be improved dramatically when pancreas transplantation is combined with transplantation of a kidney. For many years, recipients at our center averaged about 38 years old when they were transplanted. The average donor was 28 years old, suffered from traumatic brain death, and had a short ICU stay. In more recent years, both pancreas donors and recipients have been older. To verify this observation, the relevant database of our center was evaluated for donor and recipient age and for the influence of those ages on the overall results of pancreas transplantation. These data were compared to the corresponding data of Eurotransplant and OPTN, showing a dinstinctly older group of donors and recipients at our center due to a difference in various demographic and societal factors between Germany and other ET countries and the U.S. Calculation of pancreas graft and patient survival shows only insignificant influence of donor and recipient age. In conclusion, the demography of the German population has a strong impact on the age of donors and recipients at our transplant center: They are significantly older than are those in international registries. Despite this, the results of pancreas transplantation at our center are comparable to those in registry data.