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Updated: Feb 5, 2026

Robot-Assisted Kidney Transplantation
Published on: July 19, 2021
The survival advantage of pancreas after kidney transplant
Jonathan A Fridell1, Silke Niederhaus2, Michael Curry3
1Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Abstract:
Patient survival after pancreas after kidney transplant (PAK) has been reported to be inferior to patient survival after simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplant (SPK). The authors examine national data to further explore allograft (kidney and pancreas) and patient survival after PAK. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard models were used to analyze Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data from 1995 to 2010. The analysis compared PAK and SPK candidates and recipients. Kaplan-Meier analysis results showed that PAK after either a living or a deceased donor kidney transplant is associated with increased kidney graft survival compared with recipients with type 1 diabetes who received only a kidney. The best kidney allograft survival was for patients who received a living donor kidney followed by PAK. Receiving a living donor kidney was associated with increased pancreas allograft survival compared with receiving a deceased donor kidney. PAK transplant recipients who receive both organs have a survival advantage compared with uremic candidates who receive neither (SPK waitlist). Compared with uremic diabetic waitlist patients, SPK and PAK recipients showed similar overall patient survival. Successful PAK offers a survival advantage compared with receiving neither a kidney nor a pancreas transplant. These data also suggest that receiving a pancreas (after kidney) transplant may have a protective effect on the kidney allograft.
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