Breast Cancer and Transplantation

Breast cancer is an important cancer among solid organ transplant recipients. While the incidence of breast cancer in solid organ transplant recipients is comparable to the age-matched general population, the outcomes are generally poor. Interventions such as cancer screening that preclude the development of late-stage disease through early detection are not well studied, and clinical practice guidelines for cancer screening rely solely on recommendations from the general population. Among patients with a prior breast cancer history, disease recurrence after transplantation is a rare but fearful event. Once disease recurs, the risk of death is high. The focus of this review is to present the epidemiology of breast cancer in solid organ transplant recipients, screening and preventive strategies for those who may be at risk, novel genomic profiling for determining tumor progression, and the newer targeted interventions for recipients who have developed breast cancers after solid organ transplantation.