Pancreas Transplant Alone in the USA, Where Do We Stand?

Currently, over 63,000 pancreas transplant procedures have been performed worldwide, with only approximately 8% of all pancreas transplants having been a pancreas transplant alone. Our study aimed to quantify outcomes following pancreas transplant alone in the United States from 2001 to 2020, with an emphasis on graft and patient survival.

We performed a retrospective registry analysis utilizing the OPTN/UNOS database for pancreas transplants alone performed in the United States from January 2001 to May 2020 to assess transplant outcomes. The study population was divided into two subgroups: patients receiving a pancreas transplant between 2000 and 2009 and those receiving a pancreas transplant between 2010 and 2020.

3008 allograft recipients were included in the study. 1679 (54.87%) transplants were done from January 2000 to the end of 2009. 1381 (45.13%) transplants were done from 2010 to May 2020. Although the BMI and recipient sex comparison indicate a statistically significant difference, the differences are not clinically significant. The overall 5-year allograft survival rate was 52.17% in the 2000-2009 group, which increased to 58.82% in pancreas transplants alone from 2010 to 2020 (P = 0.02). The overall 5-year patient survival rate was 74.52% in the 2000-2009 group, which increased to 74.92% in pancreas transplants alone from 2010 to 2020 (P = 0.81).

With all the progress in terms of surgical techniques, organ allocation and preservation, and immunosuppressive regimens, the pancreas transplant alone allograft survival has been improving over the years, although it has been still being underutilized around the US.