Incidence of cancer after immunosuppressive treatment for heart transplantation.
Prolonged or intensive immunosuppressive therapy used after organ transplantation is complicated by an increased incidence of cancer. Striking differences in incidence are observed in heart and heart-lung transplant recipients when compared with renal transplant patients. The most significant increase was in the incidence of lymphomas in cardiac versus renal patients. Moreover, a two-fold greater increase of all neoplasms was found in cardiac recipients, with nearly a six-fold increase in visceral tumors. Several factors may account for these differences. In cardiac allograft recipients, intensive immunosuppression is frequently used to reverse acute rejection and the highest number of cardiac transplants was performed in the era of polypharmacy, usually consisting of triple therapy.
Divisione di Medicina Interna, Ospedale Civile, V. Volturno 14, 27048 Voghera, Pavia, Italy. g-ippoliti@libero.it
Giovanbattista
G
Ippoliti
Mauro
M
Rinaldi
Carlo
C
Pellegrini
Mario
M
Viganò
D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D015994:Incidence; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000209:etiology*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents