Availability of suitable islet donors in the United States.
BACKGROUND
We characterize donor utilization for islet transplantation and estimate the number of recipients who could achieve normoglycemia through islet transplantation if the current donor pool were used.


METHODS
Potential islet donors from all United Network for Organ Sharing donors (1/00-5/04) were identified and categorized into "optimal" islet donors (16-40 yr, body mass index >27 kg/m, hemodynamically stable) or "standard" donors (as traditionally described).


RESULTS
Of 27,552 potential donors during this period, 6,140 donor pancreata were used for whole organ transplant. Of the remaining 21,412 donors, 10,417 potential islet donors were identified (9260 [88.9%] standard and 1157 [11.1%] optimal donors). Islets from only 218 donors were used for transplant, representing 8.7% of optimal donors and 2.1% of all potential islet donors.


CONCLUSIONS
The widespread use of isolated islets could provide insulin independence for approximately 1000 type I diabetics a year, but at current rates of islet transplant, all recipients could be transplanted with islets from ideal donors.
Department of Surgery, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Paige M
PM
Porrett
Heidi
H
Yeh
Adam
A
Frank
Shaoping
S
Deng
James I
JI
Kim
Clyde F
CF
Barker
James F
JF
Markmann
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D016381:Islets of Langerhans Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019520:Living Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States; D014850:Waiting Lists