These data suggest that, despite similar outcomes of the isolation procedure, islet graft function is significantly influenced by donor age. These results may have important consequences in the definition of pancreas allocation criteria.

HRQL assessment may help in the selection of candidates with brittle diabetes for islet transplantation.

Over the period of study, 260 pancreata were offered, from a total of 1,304 cadaveric donors in the four allocation regions (20%). Fifty-two patients were on the waiting list at any time during this 2-year period. The percentage of organs offered varied in the range of 0.5% to 42%, depending on region of origin, with a correlation with number of patients on the waiting list in each region. Of these, 104 (40%) were accepted for processing. Ninety-two pancreata were actually processed, resulting in 42 islet preparations being transplanted. The number of international equivalents of transplanted preparations was 378,500+/-16,000 versus 165,400+/-15,400 (P<0.0001) for nontransplanted preparations. Total cold ischemia time was 6+/-0.3 hr for transplanted preparations versus 6.7+/-0.4 hr for nontransplanted preparations (not significant). CONCLUSIONS.: A high rate of pancreas offers, successful isolation, and islet transplantation can be achieved in multicenter networks such as GRAGIL. Such an approach can expand both the donor pool and the recipient population.