Pancreas preservation with University of Wisconsin and Celsior solutions

BACKGROUND: Although the use of Celsior has been recently described for heart, lung, liver, and kidney transplantation, no data are available on its use for clinical pancreas preservation. METHODS: We herein describe the results of 112 pancreas transplants preserved with either University of Wisconsin (UW; (n = 56) or Celsior (n = 56) solution at two Italian transplant centers. The groups were comparable with regard to all donor and recipient characteristics. RESULTS: Mean cold and warm ischemia times were 10.1 +/- 2.2 hours and 37.2 +/- 8.2 minutes for UW compared to 10.8 +/- 2.4 hours and 38.3 +/- 6.7 minutes for Celsior (P = NS). Delayed endocrine pancreas function was recorded in two UW-preserved grafts (3.6%). Actuarial 1-year patient survival was 94.6% for UW as compared with 100% for Celsior (P = NS). Equivalent graft survival figures were 91.0% for UW as compared with 96.4% for Celsior (P = NS). CONCLUSIONS: Within the range of cold ischemia times reported in this study, UW and Celsior solutions have similar safety profiles for pancreas transplantation.