The optimal renal replacement therapy is kidney transplantation because it improves quality of life, prolongs survival, and is cost-effective. Malignancy became the second leading cause of death in kidney allograft recipients. The aim of this study was to the prevalence of malignancy in patients with end-stage renal disease on the kidney transplantation waiting list and in kidney allograft recipients.
The cross-sectional study was conducted in 50 prevalent patients on the waiting list and 300 kidney allograft recipients. Patients who had been registered in the cadaver kidney waiting list and kidney allograft recipients did not differ in regard to age, sex, dialysis vintage and causes of end-stage renal failure. In waitlisted patients only 3 had a history of malignancy (renal cell carcinoma, tongue carcinoma, gastric cancer) which account for the 3% of the population. In kidney allograft recipients, in 52 patients malignancy developed which accounts for 17% of the population studied. The leading malignancy was skin cancer- 9 cases, followed by PTLD (post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder) in 5 cases, Kaposi sarcoma- cases, brain cancer- 2 cases, Merkel carcinoma in 2 cases, lung cancer (small cell and non-small cell), unknown origin – 2 cases and other 22 malignancies were in single patient (including one leukemia and one multiple myeloma). 17 deaths were recorded in kidney allograft recipients with malignancy mainly in PTLD, Kaposi sarcoma, Merkel carcinoma, sarcoma and brain cancer. Skin cancer has the best prognosis.
Concluding, as prevalence of malignancy is increasing in kidney allograft recipients, screening in this population is of utmost importance. Guidelines for cancer screening in both potential transplant recipients and kidney allograft recipient should be developed as nowadays there are scarcity of data in this matter. Minimization of immunosuppressive regimen should be considered, in particular, in high risk patients.