53-year-old donates organs, unknowingly shares breast cancer with 4 recipients

In a very rare medical case, four European patients got breast cancer after receiving organs from the same donor in 2007. The 53-year-old woman who donated her organs died from a stroke. She had no known medical problems at the time of donation. Doctors did standard screening tests, including physical checks and ultrasounds, but they did not find any signs of cancer.

The donor’s heart, lungs, liver, and both kidneys were given to five different people. The heart recipient died from sepsis just five months after the transplant. But the other four recipients would face a much different problem in the years ahead.

According to CNN, between 16 months and six years after their transplants, all four living recipients were told they had breast cancer. DNA tests showed that the cancer cells came directly from the organ donor. Three of these patients died after the cancer spread to other parts of their bodies. Only one patient survived. He was a 32-year-old man who got the right kidney. Doctors removed the transplanted organ, stopped his medicines that weaken the immune system, and gave him chemotherapy.

Why cancer transmission through organ donation is so rare

Dr. Frederike Bemelman is a professor of nephrology at the University of Amsterdam. She wrote the case report and said this is a very rare thing to happen. She had never seen such a case in her 20 years working in transplant medicine. The case was published in the American Journal of Transplantation. This is believed to be the first time breast cancer has been passed from one donor to four people who got organs.

The study says the donor had something called micrometastases. These are groups of cancer cells that have moved from where they started but are too small to be seen by normal screening tests. These tiny groups of cells were not found during the donation process even though doctors did thorough medical checks.

Graham Lord is a professor of medicine at King’s College London. He said the cancer could not be detected at the time of donation. The risk of getting cancer through organ transplants is very low. It happens in between 0.01 percent and 0.05 percent of all transplants.

Dr. Bemelman pointed out an important lesson from this case. When a cancer from a donor is found, taking out the transplanted organ can be very helpful. This lets patients stop taking drugs that weaken their immune system. Then their immune system can get strong again and fight the cancer cells. The one person who survived in this case got treatment including chemotherapy after his kidney was removed. She also said that the good things about organ transplants are much bigger than these small risks. People should not be worried about getting transplants.