Malignancy following lung transplantation

Evidence of an increased risk for malignancy in recipients of solid-organ transplants has been well established. Multiple large population-based studies have suggested that the incidence of de novo development of cancer in transplant recipients is at least twice that in the general population, ^{1 , 2} and a meta-analysis of five retrospective investigations reported a threefold higher cancer risk in transplant recipients. ³ Despite the current recognition that along with chronic rejection, neoplastic disease is a leading cause of late transplant mortality, ⁴ the compendium of interrelated factors linked to malignant transformation remains incompletely understood. Data on cancer prevalence in the setting of transplantation are limited because of heterogeneity among investigations, small study cohorts, registries’ dependence on voluntary reporting, and limited duration or follow-up. Analyses also support the existence of some variance in tumor type according to the organ transplanted. ^{1 , 4}