Urologic de novo malignancies after kidney transplantation: a single center experience

Urologic cancers are the second or third most common malignancies in renal transplant (RT) recipients. This study sought to determine the incidence of and identify possible risk factors for urologic malignancies among patients who underwent transplantation at our center.

This retrospective, single-center cohort included 836 patients who underwent transplantation from 1994 to 2011 who remained under our care. A review of their medical records revealed 63 subjects with de novo cancer, including 21 with urologic malignancies (2.5%). We analyzed demographic and clinical data of cancer versus noncancer patients with differences considered to be significant at P < .05.

The urologic malignancies included renal cell carcinoma (n = 13), prostate cancer (n = 5), and bladder transitional cell carcinoma (n = 3). The mean follow-up time was 10 ± 3.9 years. The mean age at diagnosis was 54 ± 7.4 years and the mean time from transplantation was 4 ± 3.3 years. The mortality rate among group was 19.0%. The analysis did not show significant differences in demographic or clinical characteristics between the groups, except for the prevalence of male gender and smoking status among the cancer cohort. No significant differences were observed for other suspected risk factors, including immunosuppressive protocols, time of pretransplantation dialysis, and age.

The development of urologic malignancies is an early event, frequently observed within 4-5 years after transplantation. Therefore, this period should be considered for routine urologic cancer screening.