Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 17, 2026
Normothermic Ex Vivo Pancreas Perfusion for the Preservation of Pancreas Allografts before Transplantation
Published on: July 27, 2022
Donation After Circulatory Arrest in Pancreas Transplantation: A Report of 10 Cases
J A Fridell1, R S Mangus1, C M Thomas1
1Department of Surgery, Transplant Division, Indiana University, School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
Introduction:
Transplantation of pancreas allografts procured from donation after circulatory death (DCD) remains uncommon. This study reviews a series of pancreas transplants at a single center to assess the donor and recipient characteristics for DCD pancreas transplant and to compare clinical outcomes.
Methods:
DCD procurement was performed with a 5-minute wait time from pronouncement of death to first incision. In 2 patients, tissue plasminogen activator was infused as a thrombolytic during the donor flush. All kidney grafts were placed on pulsatile perfusion.
Results:
There were 606 deceased donor pancreas transplants, 596 standard donors and 10 DCD donors. Of the 10 DCD transplants, 6 were simultaneous pancreas-kidney and 4 were pancreas transplant alone. The average time from incision to aortic cannulation was less than 3 minutes. The median total ischemia time for the DCD grafts was 5.4 hours, compared with 8.0 hours for standard donors (P = .15). Median length of hospital stay was 7 days for both groups, and there were no episode of acute cellular rejection in the first year post-transplant for the DCD group (4.2 % for standard group, P = .65). There was no difference in early or late graft survival, with 100% graft survival in the DCD group up to 1 year post-transplant. Ten-year Kaplan-Meier analysis shows similar graft survival for the 2 groups (P = .92).
Conclusions:
These results support the routine use of carefully selected DCD pancreas donors. There were no differences in graft function, postoperative complications, and early and late graft survival.
