Improvement in Outcomes of Clinical Islet Transplantation: 1999–2010

To describe trends of primary efficacy and safety outcomes of islet transplantation in type 1 diabetes recipients with severe hypoglycemia from the Collaborative Islet Transplant Registry (CITR) from 1999 to 2010. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 677 islet transplant-alone or islet-after-kidney recipients with type 1 diabetes in the CITR were analyzed for five primary efficacy outcomes and overall safety to identify any differences by early (1999-2002), mid (2003-2006), or recent (2007-2010) transplant era based on annual follow-up to 5 years.

Insulin independence at 3 years after transplant improved from 27% in the early era (1999-2002, n = 214) to 37% in the mid (2003-2006, n = 255) and to 44% in the most recent era (2007-2010, n = 208; P = 0.006 for years-by-era; P = 0.01 for era alone). C-peptide ≥0.3 ng/mL, indicative of islet graft function, was retained longer in the most recent era (P