Bodies healthy woman transplanted to four people. They all got cancer
European doctors have described a unique case: just four patients, previously transplanted organs of the same healthy donor, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Upstairs
Cases of disease transmission in organ transplantation has been noted before (though in very rare cases), but the transfer in this way cancer recorded for the first time.
Three out of four patients who received contaminated donor organs, has died.
As it happened, the doctors still have to install: to transplant all organs tested and was found to be safe for transplantation, the disease developed only after several years.
Invisible cancer
An unprecedented case described in the article, written by a team of scientists from Germany and the Netherlands and published in the American journal of Transplantation.
Transplanted organs belonged to the woman, who died in 2007 at age 53 from a stroke. Because of any diseases that would prevent her from becoming a donor, doctors did not know that her healthy organs, it was decided to transplant eligible patients.
There were five operations were transplanted with both donor kidneys (two different people), lungs, liver and heart.
All the bodies underwent additional examination, and no signs of cancer or other diseases were found.
Initially, all five recipients survived the operation. Soon, however, the woman received a donor heart, he died — as you say the doctors, on the other, non-transplant reasons.
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16 months later, the patient who received lungs from the same donor, complained of malaise and was a new survey. In the lymph nodes in her breast was discovered cancerous cells, but analysis of their DNA showed that they originated from the donor organ.
To stop the growth of tumor was not possible. The woman died from breast cancer about a year after the diagnosis.