Kidney transplantation and malignant diseases

Basing on three types of questionnaires, the authors summarized the incidence of all malignant diseases in kidney transplant patients in CSFR. The total number of registered tumours was 34. Previously to the transplantation, two patients with malignancies were found, another one was transplanted for a kidney tumour and 31 patients manifested malignant diseases in various time intervals following the transplantation. This number is five times greater than the incidence of tumours in the standard population. At classical immunosuppression, the mean time interval between transplantation and tumour formation is 48 months; at cyclosporine application, it decreases to 19 months. The most frequent sites of tumour formation are the skin and the kidney. The early diagnosis of tumours and the surgical treatment will increase the survival period up to 58 months. The systematic oncologic follow-up and preventive controls of transplant patients represent one of the possibilities of the prolongation of the patient's life with the functional graft.