Is Survival Impacted by One or Several Successive Cancers After Liver Transplantation? A French National Study

De novo cancers after liver transplantation (LT) are major causes of complications and mortality after LT. No report was found in the literature on several successive cancers (SSC). The aim of this study was to see if the survival of one or more cancers was different and to study the survival prognostic factors of patients with one cancer or SSC after LT.

Using data from the French national database, 114 French patients who underwent LT between 1993 and 2012 were followed up until their death or until June 2016. The Cox model performed to analyze potential risk factors (cancer characteristics, immunosuppressive therapy (IT), smoking, and alcohol use).

After an average follow-up of 9.8 ± 5.1 years, 52 patients developed 1 cancer, 49 had 2 cancers, and 13 had 3 cancers. The reduction in survival time was significantly and independently associated with the metastatic stage (hazard ratio (HR) = 3.98, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = [1.45-10.93], p < 0.001), ENT (otolaryngology), and respiratory cancer versus genitourinary (HR = 8.28, 95% CI = [3.12-22.02], p < 0.001), and SSC (HR = 2.54, 95% CI = [1.39-4.65], p = 0.014).

The patients with ENT, respiratory cancers have a shorter survival. The stage of cancer and SSC reduces median survival at 10 years. The earliness of the first cancer should be taken as a warning signal of risk of SSC and impaired survival.