Case report: Melanoma after lung transplant (2006)

Record number: 
295
Adverse Occurrence type: 
MPHO Type: 
Estimated frequency: 
Most recent risk assessment for melanoma (Council of Europe, 2022): Due to the very aggressive behaviour of this tumour, it is considered an unacceptable risk for organ donation. Malignant melanoma in the donor history: Due to the lack of exhaustive data, transplanting organs from donors with treated malignant melanoma must still be considered to be associated with a high transmission risk. If precise donor data about staging, therapy, follow-up and recurrence-free survival are available, and evaluation by the dermato-oncologist concludes there is a low probability of recurrence and metastasis, organ donation might be considered for selected recipients.
Time to detection: 
3 months
Alerting signals, symptoms, evidence of occurrence: 
Lung: A mass was detected in the lung recipient´s allograft on routine chest X-ray three months after transplantation, it was followed with serial X-rays and when it failed to resolve, a biospy was performed. This demonstrated malignant melanoma, confirmed to be of donor origin by HLA-DR typing.
Demonstration of imputability or root cause: 
Lung: mass in the lung recipient´s allograft, biopsy demonstrated malignant melanoma, confirmed to be of donor origin by HLA-DR typing.
Imputability grade: 
3 Definite/Certain/Proven
Groups audience: 
Suggest new keywords: 
Case report
Lung transplant
Kidney transplant
Heart transplant
Suggest references: 
AAA
Expert comments for publication: 
Renal recipient from same donor had microscopic melanoma in kidney; a second renal recipient and heart recipient did not have evidence of tumor.