Impact of Preprocurement Cardiac Arrest in Brain-Dead Donors on the Outcome of Pancreas Transplantation

Background

This study aimed to determine the risk factors and whether cardiac arrest (CA) in brain-death donors (DBD) could affect pancreas transplantation outcomes.

Methods

We analyzed data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (2000-2020). The study included 21,499 pancreas transplantations, divided into CA-DBD and noCA-DBD groups based on whether the DBD had a history of CA.

Results

There were 1129 CA-DBD (5.3%) transplantations. The principal donor death cause for both groups was head trauma. Graft and patient survival rates were similar in both groups. CA time (CAT) was a risk factor for pancreatic graft survival in the univariate analysis (hazard ratio [HR], 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03-1.08; P = .010) and multivariate Cox regression model (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.02-1.04; P =.015). Pancreas graft survival in those with CAT ≥30 minutes was significantly lower than in those with CAT <30 minutes and the noCA-DBD group (log-rank P = .018 and P = .014, respectively), which were comparable (log-rank P = .711). No relationships were found among the various transplantation types.

Conclusions

CA in donors did not affect the pancreatic graft prognosis. However, pancreatic donors with CAT ≥30 minutes should be meticulously evaluated.