Introduction: After several years of growth in many pancreas transplant (PTx) programs, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) reports a decline in PTx numbers in the USA. This trend urges for an evaluation of the PTx and publication numbers in Eurotransplant (ET) and the UK.

Methods: We used the UNOS, ET and UK registries to describe the development of PTx rates between 1997-2016. Next, we used the Web of Science database for a bibliometric analysis of publications in this field. PTx rates were adjusted for changes in population size in the different regions.

Results: For the USA and ET, in 2004 PTx numbers changed from growth to decline, with highest annual PTx numbers of 5.1 per million inhabitants in the USA and of 2.4 in ET. Between 2004 and 2016 the average annual decline rate per million inhabitants was 3.3% for the USA and 2.5% for ET. In the UK, yearly PTx numbers showed a growth until 2009, with 3.6 transplants per million inhabitants, with an average annual decline of 1.0% after 2009. Following this trend, publications in Q1 journals showed an annual average change of +0.1%, -2.1% and +20.1%, before 2004, and a change of -4.1%, -3.8% and -5.5%, between 2004 and 2016, for respectively worldwide, the USA and the ET publications.

Conclusions: Adjusting PTx rates for changes in population size showed a clear decline in PTx numbers in both the USA and ET, with first signs of a decline in the UK. Following this trend, the number of scientific publications declines worldwide and specifically in the USA and ET. With the UNOS database in mind, we advocate for a renewed European PTx collaboration. A European registry is the key to a reliable PTx trend evaluation and will support PTx programs in their progress to better outcomes.

CITATION INFORMATION: Benjamens S., Margreiter C., de Koning E., Leuvenink H., Pol R. Decline in Pancreas Transplantation Numbers is Accompanied with Lower Publication Rates Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).

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