The incidence of bladder cancer in the recipients of kidney transplants is more than three times higher than in the general population, according to a recent study.
Edward M. Messing, MD, of the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., and coauthors at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in Madison came to that conclusion after reviewing the records of 3130 consecutive renal transplant recipients at the University of Wisconsin Hospital from 1980 to 1994. Using data on the rate of bladder cancer in the general population of Wisconsin, they determined that 1.81 cases of bladder cancer could be expected in the patients who had received transplants. However, six cases of de novo bladder cancer were identified in the transplanted patients, meaning that the relative risk of developing bladder cancer as a result of renal transplantation was 3.31.
Reporting their findings in Urology (1997;50:525-528), Dr. Messing and colleagues said that the patients probably did not have bladder cancer before the transplants. Because the latency of bladder cancer is short and the length of time from transplant to diagnosis in their series was 3 to 11 years, "it is likely that the transplant facilitated bladder cancer development and growth," they reported.
Given the results of the study, the authors recommended "early workup of hematuria in the renal transplant recipient, using the standard radiographic and cystoscopic evaluation, before attributing the cause of the hematuria to other factors."
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Edward M. Messing, MD
Department of Urology, Box 656, University of Rochester Medical Center
601 Elmwood Ave., Rochester, NY 14642-8656.
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