Primary hepatocellular carcinoma arising in a renal transplant recipient with polycystic disease.

Malignant disease arises more commonly in renal transplant recipients than in non-transplanted individuals. Renal polycystic disease is the only cause of renal failure that has a statistically significant association with the acquisition of malignancy in renal transplant recipients. This patient, who had renal failure due to polycystic disease, is the first reported renal transplant recipient to develop a hepatocellular carcinoma in an otherwise completely normal liver. It is suggested that patients with polycystic renal disease may have an unidentified factor that predisposes to the development of malignancy in them after transplantation.