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.