New Approaches in TransplantationKidney transplantationRenal Cell Carcinoma in Renal Transplantation: The Case for Surveillance
Section snippets
Patients and Methods
Beginning on January 1, 2013, 135 prospective retroperitoneal ultrasounds were performed on all new kidney transplant recipients at 6 months and 1 year postoperatively during routine appointments. The ultrasounds were interpreted by a group of 3 radiologists unfamiliar with the clinical course of the patient to maintain objectivity. Patients with ACD, defined as 4 or more cysts in native kidneys, continued with ultrasound screening every 6 months. During this period, we also retrospectively
Results
Patient characteristics are shown in Table 1 for the prospectively screened group (n = 135). Table 2 shows that 18 ultrasounds (13.3%) were identified as abnormal: 14 of the 135 (10.4%) were defined as ACD and 4 (2.9%) solid lesions were detected. Three of the solid lesions were subsequently histologically confirmed as RCC, and one was a benign inflammatory mass in a patient with prior pretransplant RCC.
Fifty-six other ultrasounds were reviewed retrospectively; results were reported to us by
Discussion
Malignancy post-renal transplant is a common cause of death. We argue that early detection and treatment of RCC through routine screenings of kidney transplant recipients is best practice. Ultrasound is a simple, convenient test to diagnose and prevent development of advanced-stage cancer, which has an unfavorable prognosis [4]. In a large, retrospective study of the Medicare population on hemodialysis, the relative risk of malignancy was most elevated for cancers in the kidney, ureter, and
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Renal cell carcinoma in kidney transplant recipients: incidence, trends, clinical management & outcomes
2023, World Journal of UrologyCharacteristics and Graft Survival of Kidney Transplant Recipients with Renal Cell Carcinoma
2020, American Journal of NephrologyIncidence and mortality of renal cell carcinoma after kidney transplantation: A meta-analysis
2019, Journal of Clinical Medicine