“De Novo” post-transplant malignancies in liver transplant recipients

Abstract

Introduction: The risk of developing “de novo” malignancies after liver transplantation is around 1% per year. The incidence varies from 3 to 15%, therefore, being higher than that found among the general population. The potential causes for cancer after solid organ grafting are: chronic immunosuppression and human herpes viral infection. Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to review the medical literature on the incidence of “de novo” malignancies. Methods: A retrospective analysis of medical records of 325 patients submitted to orthotopic liver transplantation between September, 1991 and July, 2006 was performed. The type of tumor, risk factors involved, modality of treatment and the patient survival were recorded and analyzed. The recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma was excluded. Results: It was assessed 5 (1.54%) males with mean age of 49.2 years. It was observed 80% of mortality. The survival was affected by the nature of the tumor (skin), which allowed adequate surgical treatment and due to the tracking performed, since that was a patient with the same manifestation previous to the transplant. Four of those patients were heavy alcohol consumers before the transplant associated to the consumption of tobacco and two of them presented associated consumption. Conclusion: The high mortality presented by those patients shows the need of a criterious postsurgical follow-up.