Malignancies in renal transplant patients: 15 years experience in Thailand

The increased incidence of malignancies post-renal transplantation is well established. We performed a retrospective review of the 270 renal transplant patients from May 1, 1992 to April 30, 2007, including 18 cases (6.7%) of malignancy. The most common cancer in the study was transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary tract (7/18). The second most common cancer was hepatocellular carcinoma (3/18). In contrast to reports from Caucasian countries, we found only 2/18 patients had posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disease and no report of skin cancer. Among the 18 patients with malignancy, 11 died (mortality rate = 61%). We encourage a more extensive study of malignancy post-renal transplantation at multiple centers with a tumor registry in Thailand.