Recipients Developing Cancer from Donated Organs – What are your thoughts?

Hi, everyone! This is Rhea and I recently read this article on CNN called “Four people get cancer from donated organ in ‘extraordinary rare’ case.” This is the full article if you are interested: https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/18/health/organ-donor-cancer-transmission-europe-intl/index.html

This CNN article is about how four European patients developed breast cancer after they received organ transplants from the same donor. This is very strange as the “donor had no known medical conditions, and the malignancy was unknown when her kidneys, lungs, liver and heart were harvested” (CNN article).

The study mentioned in the article revealed that the donor had “micrometastasis,” which is essentially when small numbers of cancer cells have spread from the original tumor to other areas of the body through the lymphovascular system, but are not large enough to be detected through screening. This explains how although the standard screening process, full physical tests, and ultrasounds were conducted on the donor’s body prior to the organ transplants, the malignancy and cancer cells were undetected in the donated organs.

Although there have been cases of cancer transmission through organ transplants before, this case is believed to be the first involving the transmission of breast cancer through organ transplants.

However, it is important to note that the “risk of transmitting tumors is between 0.01% and 0.05% for each organ transplant” (CNN article) and that donors with active malignancies are not allowed to partake in organ donations.

The article also explains how this rare occurrence of breast cancer transmission can potentially be avoided through experimental programs for early cancer diagnosis in the future.

Although some doctors suggest that a CT scan could have detected the donor’s malignancy before the organ donations, others discourage this practice for all potential donors because this would not only increase “irrelevant findings,” but would also cause a decrease in the already scare pool of potential organ/tissue donors.

However, I believe that we should look more into these potential methods for early detection of malignancies and other conditions, such as possessing HIV, which would render the donor unsuitable for organ donations. Although there have not been many recent cases of the transmission of HIV through organ transplantation since 2012, there is still a risk, no matter how small, of HIV transmission despite routine screening.

Despite all of these potential risks that arise as a byproduct of organ transplantations, most doctors believe that the chances of these adverse effects are relatively small and argue that the “advantages of organ transplantation far outweigh these small risks” (CNN article). In fact, I agree with this viewpoint because although risks will always be present, organ transplants can drastically improve the health of patients and can substantially prolong their lifespans.

I want to hear from all of you about this topic as well.

What are your thoughts about the benefits of organ transplantation outweighing the risks of the process?

Should we start using CT scans on potential donors for early cancer detection, in turn decreasing the possibility of transmitting life-threatening malignancies? Or should we keep the current screening procedure so that we don’t decrease the already limited pool of potential organ donors?

Should we look towards new technologies other than CT scans for detecting conditions, such as malignancies and the possession of HIV, to keep recipients of organ/tissue transplants healthy even after their procedures?