Posted on 09/17/2018 7:26:25 AM PDT by BenLurkin
It's well known that organ transplants can pass infectious diseases from donors to recipients in rare cases. But even more rarely, transplants can transmit cancer, as a new case shows.
In what's being described as an "extraordinary case," four people in Europe developed breast cancer after they received organs from the same donor, according to a new report.
Three of the patients died from the cancer, which underscores the "often-fatal consequences of donor-derived breast cancer," the authors wrote in their report, published in the July issue of the American Journal of Transplantation
Passing cancer through an organ transplant is "a very, very uncommon event," said Dr. Lewis Teperman, director of organ transplantation at Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, New York, who was not involved in the case.
Indeed, transplant recipients have a chance of between 1 in 10,000 and 5 in 10,000 of this happening, according to the report.
"The organ supply is incredibly safe," Teperman told Live Science. That's because organ donors undergo rigorous screening, including family history for disease, such as cancer, and multiple laboratory tests. In this case, the 53-year-old donor underwent a physical exam as well as an ultrasound of the abdomen and heart, a chest X-ray, and an examination of the airways.
Still, even with these robust procedures in place, "it's impossible to screen everything," and there's a very small chance that a donor will have an undetected disease that could be transmitted, Teperman said.
In the current case, the patient had an undetected breast cancer. The donor may have had "micro metastases" or groups of cancer cells that spread from the original cancer site but are too small to be detected with screening or imaging tests, the report said.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Organ donor administrator should be charged as a serial killer.
Odds between 1 in 10,000 to 5 in 10,000? So possibly 1 in 2,000 organ transplants could transmit cancer.
Those are not great odds.
Every time they open you up you run a statistical risk of coming out worse off than when you went in.
Medical people need to be much more honest about this.
Would you rather die this afternoon or take the chance on being that one in 2000 ? We seem to be forgetting that all these people on a transplant list arlready have serious issues.
Another reason not to donate.
And the chances are that one or two of those would have gotten cancer anyway so the odds may be better than stated.
My reaction was to their implying that possibly 1 in 2,000 transplants could transmit cancer, then going on to say that this was incredibly safe and very low odds. It’s not very low odds, it’s actually pretty high odds.
For someone at death’s door needing a transplant, I’d imagine a roll of the dice is not a difficult decision to make, but it’s good to be honest about potential complications. This article is not honest about that.
I worked with a lady who’s mother got a lung transplant only to develop lung cancer in the donated organ less than a year after her surgery. She passed away from the cancer less than 6 months later. Some colleagues were trying to get the lady to sue the doctors for what had happened- she said she could never sue them for giving her extra time with her mom.
Yep
Without transplant odds of death at 100%.
1 in 2000 risk of cancer is a no brainer risk
Well, let’s dispense with the marketing hype, pretending that 1 in 2,000 is incredibly safe and a very low risk then, shall we?
I dislike lying. Why is lying necessary?
My husband is a heart transplant recipient and was on the National transplant list for only fifteen days. Why so fast? he was in excellent health except for his rapidly failing heart, perfect weight, etc. He was an A1 rated recipient which meant he was a perfect candidate, excellent health, could withstand a transplant and would die without one.
People with serious underlying conditions, obesity, smokers etc do not get on transplant lists.
Not necessarily.Cancer cells can "simmer" (my word) in a person for some time before there's *any* overt evidence that they're present.And once an organ is obtained for transplant every minute counts.If the time window from the time the organ is harvested to the time it meets its new owner is exceeded the organ becomes absolutely useless...to anyone.
This type of thing is just one of the many risks a person takes in seeking someone else's tissue.
Also. might add that because of the immune suppression drugs he stands a greater chance of cancer. He is screened carefully and often, especially skin cancer,
Chinese organ donors?..........................
That's not true...at least in this country.IIRC it was announced in Britain that that would be the case there for their "NHS".
Less than ideal candidates do go on lists but,for example,when an organ is found to be a perfect match for two people,one like your husband and one who's overweight,etc,your husband is almost certain to get it.OTOH,if that same organ is found to be a match *only* for an obese person that person will almost certainly get it.
It's a form of "triage"...a medical concept covered well in numerous episodes of MASH.
That’s very sad. It never occurred to me that “breast cancer cells” could be in the liver and kidneys.
I would THINK that the organ donor would be tested for infectious conditions like illness and cancer.
What about the extraordinary case of McCain’s brain cancer that manifests itself through raging unreasonable hatred against one’s own people. It has obviously infected the entire Left, most of the RINOs and the never Trumpers.
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