University of Virginia Health System

Pancreas Transplantation

Waiting for an Organ: The Listing Process

The waiting list for transplant organs is managed nationwide by a federally regulated, non-profit service called the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) . UNOS uses a complex set of factors to ensure that availability and distribution of organs is handled fairly and promotes the greatest benefit from a precious medical resource.

When a patient’s name is added to the pancreas waiting list for a deceased donor pancreas, blood type and the antigens identified in the blood are entered into a computer registry that is maintained by UNOS. A pancreas is allocated, first, based on the biological match between a donor and a recipient, and then by wait time accumulated on the list.  

The waiting time for a pancreas from a deceased donor is close to 5 years and the transplant surgery must occur within hours of the organ becoming available. Patients must be accessible to the clinical staff during the waiting period in order to ensure that that an offer of a suitable organ can be finalized and a transplant operation completed in the shortest possible time.