OPTN/SRTR 2022 Annual Data Report: Pancreas

The postpandemic recovery did not occur in pancreas transplantation as in other organs. The number of pancreas transplants in the United States decreased to 918 in 2022 from 963 in 2021. The number of simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplants decreased to 810 in 2022 from 820 in 2021, but the largest decrease was in pancreas transplant alone: 62 in 2022 compared with 92 in 2021. Pancreas-after-kidney transplants decreased to 46 in 2022 from 51 in 2021. The trend of increasing proportions of pancreas transplants in patients with type 2 diabetes seen over the past few years ended in 2022; there were 22.4% of such transplants in 2022 compared with 25.8% in 2021. The proportion of recipients older than 45 years decreased in 2022 as well. However, the proportions of candidates with type 2 diabetes and older candidates on the waiting list did not decrease. The number of pancreas donors decreased and the pancreas nonuse rate increased in 2022. Outcomes after pancreas transplant continued to improve, with an impressive 8.1% pancreas and 4.3% kidney graft failure rate for simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplant at 1 year in 2022. The proportion of pancreas transplants performed by medium-volume centers (11-24 transplants/year) returned to 37.2% in 2022 from a high of 48.3% in 2021, whereas the proportion of those done by large-volume centers (25 or more transplants/year) returned to 25.3% in 2022 from a low of 15.9% in 2021.