Liver transplant recipients may be at higher risk for cancer

Patients who received a liver transplant had cancer incidence rates 2.5-times higher than the general population, according to recent data.

Researchers from the Public Health Agency of Canada in Ontario and the University of Michigan also found that non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and colorectal cancer were the most common cancer types among liver transplant recipients.

Using the Canadian Organ Replacement Registry, the researchers identified 2,034 patients who received a liver transplant between June 1983 and October 1998. The researchers compared site-specific cancer incidence rates between the cohort and the general population.

They found that 113 cancers developed in the group of patients who had received a transplant compared with 44.8 expected cases based on rates in the general population (95% CI, 2.1-3.0). Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma had the highest standardized incidence ratio (SIR=20.8; 95% CI, 14.9-28.3). The researchers also reported an excess for colorectal cancer (SIR=2.6; 95% CI, 1.4-4.4).

Risks were more apparent during the first year following transplantation and among younger transplant patients, according to the researchers.

“Increased surveillance in this patient population, particularly in the first year following transplantation, and screening for colorectal cancer with modalities for which benefits are already well recognized should be pursued,” they wrote.

Liver Transpl. 2008;14:1588-1597.