Posttransplantation malignancy in a patient presenting with weight loss and changed bowel habits: a case report.
BACKGROUND
Advancements in immunosuppressive therapy have significantly improved patient and graft survival following renal transplantation. This is paralleled by an increasing occurrence of posttransplantation malignancy.


METHODS
We report on a patient who presented with a history reminding of colon cancer seven years after receiving a kidney transplant. Initial diagnostic imaging seemed to confirm this diagnosis showing a constricting colonic lesion. To our surprise, colonoscopy findings were unremarkable. Review of the imaging studies revealed that the tumor-like picture was caused by the renal graft impressing the intestine. The following search for malignancy in other locations resulted in the diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme of which the patient died several weeks later.


CONCLUSIONS
Follow-up of renal transplant patients must include screening tests directed at tumor detection. Imaging studies and other tests in this patient group should be interpreted by physicians who are familiar with transplant related peculiarities.
Schmitt
Roland
R
Medical Faculty of the Charité, Franz Volhard Clinic, HELIOS Klinikum-Berlin, Germany. roland.schmitt@yale.edu
Kettritz
Ute
U
Luft
Friedrich C
FC
Kettritz
Ralph
R