Purpose: De novo malignancy is not uncommon after liver transplantation (OLT). We have compared the incidence of novo malignancy following OLT with those among the general Korean population.
Methods: Between January 1998 and December 2008, 1952 adult OLT were performed, including 1714 living donor and 238 deceased donor grafts whose medical records were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: Among the 1952 patients, 44 (2.3%) showed de novo malignancies after a mean posttransplant period of 41 months. Among the 14 types of malignancy the most frequent was stomach cancer (n = 11; 25.0%), colorectal cancer (n = 9; 20.5%), breast cancer (n = 4; 9.1%), and thyroid cancer (n = 3; 6.8%). These patients underwent aggressive treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, except for one patient with an aggressive primary liver cancer. Over a mean follow-up of 45 months after diagnosis of de novo malignancy, 13 patients (29.5%) died; the overall 3-year patient survival rate was 67.5%. The relative risk of malignancy following OLT was 7.7-fold higher in men and 7.3-fold higher in women than the Korean general population.
Conclusions: OLT recipients must be checked periodically for de novo malignancy throughout their lives, especially for cancers common in the general population.
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.