Standard criteria donor pancreas donation status is associated with improved kidney transplant outcomes

Abstract: Background: Organ donor characteristics can be used to predict outcomes in kidney transplantation. We hypothesized that pancreas donation status could reflect organ quality and be predictive of kidney graft outcomes following Standard Criteria Donor (SCD) kidney transplantation. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of deceased donor kidney alone (DD KA) transplants reported to SRTR from 1992 to 2005. Group 1 = kidney alone recipients from pancreas donors (KA, P+) and Group 2 = kidney alone recipients from non‐pancreas donors (KA, P?). We compared patient and graft survival between groups at 10‐yr post‐transplant. Results: Group 1 (KA, P+) comprised 19 633 (20%) recipients and Group 2 (KA, P?) comprised 78 737 (80%) recipients. Ten‐yr graft survival for Group 1 vs. Group 2 was 42.6% and 36.9% (p < 0.0001), respectively. Pancreas donation status (non‐pancreas donor) was associated with a hazard ratio for graft loss of 1.23 on univariate analysis (p < 0.0001), and KA, P‐remained an independent risk factor for graft failure at 10 yr, HR 1.09 (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Donor pancreas donation status is an independent predictor of improved outcomes of SCD kidney recipients. Further study of the pancreas organ donor pre‐procurement is warranted to optimize not only pancreas utilization but also kidney graft outcomes.