Kidney Transplantation Linked With Increased Risk Of Various Cancers

SYDNEY, Australia, Dec. 19 -- Kidney transplantation is associated with a significant increase in the risk of cancer, including a tripling of the risk for cancer at 18 sites, researchers here reported. A study of 28,855 end-stage renal disease patients who received kidney transplants found a slight but significant (P=0.002), increase in risk of cancer during dialysis (standardized incidence ratio 1.35; 95% CI, 1.27-1.45), but after transplant the SIR increased to 3.27 (95% CI, 3.09-3.46, P for trend <0.001). Moreover, most of these cancers are those with known or suspected viral causes, reported epidemiologist Claire M.Vajdec, Ph.D., of the University of New South Wales, in the Dec. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.