Clinical impact of pancreas donor age on outcomes following pancreas transplantation: Analysis of a nationwide registry in Japan

Objectives: Clinical impact of pancreas donor age on pancreas transplantation (PTx) outcome has not been well investigated. Here we analyzed the nationwide PTx registry in Japan to assess posttransplant outcomes in donor age-stratified groups. Methods: This study included 410 cases of PTx performed in Japan between 2000 and 2019. Analyses were performed using clinical data from the Japan Pancreas Transplant Registry of Japan Society for Pancreas and Islet Transplantation. Results: The 410 PTx cases were classified based on donor age: <10 years (n = 10, 2.4%), 10–19 years (n = 30, 7.3%), 20–29 years (n = 64, 15.6%), 30–39 years (n = 75, 18.3%), 40–49 years (n = 114, 27.8%), 50–59 years (n = 90, 22.0%), and ≥60 years (n = 27, 6.6%). The incidence of early pancreas graft loss (8.9%, 36/410 cases) did not exhibit a significant linear correlation with donor age. Posttransplant pancreas graft survival (1-/3-/5-/10-year rates of 85.9%/80.6%/76.2%/67.4% among all cases) was also not significantly associated with donor age. Conclusion: Pancreas donor age was not significantly associated with posttransplant outcome. This finding supports the use of expanded criteria donors, with regards to pancreas donor age, for PTx in cases of type 1 diabetes mellitus.