Cancer transferred along with transplanted organs

German and Dutch researchers have described an “unprecedented” case of cancer being transferred along with organs donated for transplantation. A 53-year-old organ donor had undiagnosed breast cancer and of the five recipients, three died of the same cancer.

It is known that organ transplants can, in rare cases, transmit infectious diseases from donors on the recipient. But they can also transmit cancer, a prime example being the case described in the July issue of the „American Journal of Transplantation”.

In 2007, a 53-year-old woman died of a stroke m fromgu. Doctors took both her kidneys, lungs, liver and heart and transplanted the waiting organs to five patients. The woman had not been diagnosed with cancer, and numerous tests showed no signs of it .

The authors of the report emphasize that before the death of the organ donor underwent full screening, in which she ranges were m.In. X-ray, ultrasound and other laboratory tests. None of these studies indicated anything to suggest that the woman might have a malignant tumor r.

16 months p The person who rej transplanted lungs, developed cancer r. She was found to have tumors in her lymph nodes and chest. Analysis of com cancer cells revealed that, in fact, the cells rks of pediatric cancer, and DNA testing showed that the com rki that came from the organ donor. The person died p ł year after the devastating diagnosis.

At that time, the other living patients were notified , which ers received organs from the same woman. The person who rej was transplanted with a heart she died wkr tce after transplantation due to sepsis. Doctors told the others that the person who ra received a lung, died of breast cancer associated with transplantation of the. These patients were subjected to cancer tests, kt re initially negative.

However, five years after the death of a patient with transplanted lungs, a person became ill who The left kidney was transplanted. Tests revealed the cancer with metastasis, which ry from the kidney had spread to the liver and other organs. Six years after the successful transplantation, the person died. After her death, it was confirmed that the cancer came from an organ donor .

The liver recipient also died and the tumor r also came from a 53-year-old woman. The disease was discovered four years after the transplant, but the recipient managed to survive another three years. The study found that the liver transplant patient had com rks of breast cancer in the liver. The patient refused to undergo another transplant.

Spośr d four recipients in the organ (not including the person who ra died of sepsis) one person survived, although she was also diagnosed with cancer r. The man, who ry was 32 years old at the time of the transplant, received a right kidney. In 2011, he was found to have com rics of breast cancer in the kidney. Doctors decided to remove the transplanted kidney and put the patient on anti-cancer therapy. At the time of his last follow-up visit last April, the man was healthy.

– Many papers have indicated that cancers can be transmitted with organs donated for transplantation. However, this is the first report describing the transmission of breast cancer after multi-organ transplantation from a single donor to four recipients – said Frederike J. Bemelman of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam.

Researchers currently do not know how the b The disease could have been transmitted to any of the four recipients , but they hypothesize that immunosuppressive drugs that re have pom c the recipient organisms accept the new organs, they could help c in the spread of cancer. These drugs inhibit the immune system‘s response.

Due to rigorous testing before the organ was harvested , researchers put the risk of cancer transmission between 0.01 and 0.05 percent for each transplant. German-Dutch team ł scientist acknowledged in the report that perhaps there should be even more specific ł ł qualifying organ transplant evaluations In order to avoid such tragedies.

Hope is brought by the case of a 32-year-old man who rm removed the transplanted organ. The authors of the study suggest that removing the donor organ and restoring the price of immunity to the body can induce complete remission of the disease.