Transplant Recipients Develop Melanoma From New Organs

Two transplant recipients who each received a kidney from a donor successfully treated for cancer 16 years earlier developed melanoma from their new organs, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Scottish researchers, who reported on the unusual transmission, suggested that persons who have had melanoma should not be accepted as an organ donor -- a practice already recommended in the United States by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

The transmission of cancer via a donated organ is rare, with only 24 cases of donor-related cancer reported out of the 125,000 transplants performed in the United States between 1994 and 2001, according to a UNOS spokesperson. Ten of the 24 patients subsequently died.

In the Scottish case, where the donor had a melanoma skin lesion removed 16 years earlier and was thought to be cancer-free, one of the kidney recipients died and the other recovered after the diseased kidney was removed.

Melanoma cells had apparently been dormant in the donor's kidneys until the transplant, and subsequently flourished in the transplant recipients who were taking antirejection medications that suppressed their immune systems.

"Anyone who's had invasive melanoma should not be a transplant donor in the future," Dr. Rona M. MacKie of Glasgow University concluded.

Other Sources: New England Journal of Medicine