Pretransplant malignancy in candidates and posttransplant malignancy in recipients of cardiac transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Malignancy is generally considered a contraindication for cardiac transplantation, whereas secondary malignancy has been described under chronic immunosuppression. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We report here the frequency of malignancy encountered among the 495 patients evaluated at our cardiac transplant centre as well as the incidence and the course of post-transplant malignancy among 129 consecutive patients who underwent cardiac-transplantation, with a subsequent minimum follow-up of 6 months.
RESULTS: A total of 10 out of 495 patients (2%) evaluated for heart transplantation presented with a history of previous malignancy: 3 of them underwent transplantation (2 survive, 1 died) whereas in the remaining 7 patients neoplasia was considered a contraindication for cardiac transplantation, and all 7 died (4 cardiac, 3 tumor-related deaths). Post-transplant malignancy was diagnosed in 10 of 129 patients (9%) 35 +/- 15 months after transplantation (6 skin cancers, 1 lymphoproliferative disease, 3 solid tumors). No significant association was found between post-transplant malignancy and primary prophylaxis with antithymocyte globulin (ATG) or murine antihuman T-cell monoclonal antibodies (OKT3).
CONCLUSION: These results confirm that pre-transplant malignancy is not an absolute contraindication for cardiac transplantation and that post-transplant follow-up must include careful monitoring of post-transplant malignancy.