Cancers Complicating Organ Transplantation

Abstract

Since 1968, when an increased incidence of lymphomas was noted in renal-transplant recipients,¹ evidence has accumulated that organ transplantation, and the immunosuppressive therapy associated with it, are complicated by an increased incidence of certain cancers. Analysis of 5250 tumors that occurred in 4933 patients reported to the Cincinnati Transplant Tumor Registry (CTTR), a worldwide data base, reveals many striking findings.^{2 , 3} The frequency of cancers that are common in the general population (carcinomas of the lung, prostate, breast, and colon and invasive carcinomas of the uterine cervix) is not increased among transplant recipients. However, a variety of cancers that are uncommon . . .