Women develop breast cancer from donated organ in rare case
- 6 years ago
AMSTERDAM — In an extremely rare case, four patients developed cancer after receiving organs from the same donor, with three succumbing to the disease.
When doctors harvested the kidneys, lungs, heart, and liver of a 53-year-old organ donor, she had no known medical conditions, and no malignancy was detected, according to a case report published in the American Journal of Transplantation.
Breast cancer cells were later found in the lung, left kidney, and liver recipients, with DNA analysis showing they came from the donor. The tree died after the cancer metastasized.
A fourth organ recipient survived following removal of the donated right kidney, stopping immunosuppression drugs, and chemotherapy.
The study suggests the donor has micro-metastases, which are groups of cancer cells that spread from their site of origin, but are too small to be detected.
Organ donations are not allowed for anyone with an active malignancy, as cancer transmission can occur during transplantation.
This rare medical occurrence, however, is believed to be the first case of breast cancer being transferred.
When doctors harvested the kidneys, lungs, heart, and liver of a 53-year-old organ donor, she had no known medical conditions, and no malignancy was detected, according to a case report published in the American Journal of Transplantation.
Breast cancer cells were later found in the lung, left kidney, and liver recipients, with DNA analysis showing they came from the donor. The tree died after the cancer metastasized.
A fourth organ recipient survived following removal of the donated right kidney, stopping immunosuppression drugs, and chemotherapy.
The study suggests the donor has micro-metastases, which are groups of cancer cells that spread from their site of origin, but are too small to be detected.
Organ donations are not allowed for anyone with an active malignancy, as cancer transmission can occur during transplantation.
This rare medical occurrence, however, is believed to be the first case of breast cancer being transferred.