A multi-institutional study of malignancies after heart transplantation and a comparison with the general United States population

Background The purpose of these studies was to determine the incidence and survival of patients with specific malignancies with respect to age and transplant year and to compare the data with the normal non-transplant population. Methods Data from 6,211 primary cardiac transplants between July 31, 1993, and December 30, 2008, were collected by 35 institutions participating in the Cardiac Transplant Research Database. Data were compared with information collected by the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Cancer Statistics Review 1975–2006. Results Multivariable analysis showed older age (relative risk [RR], 2.1; p p p = 0.006) and lymphoma (actual/expected ratio, 4.3, p Conclusions The risk of malignancy has markedly declined during a 15-year period such that the aggregate rate of malignancy approached that of the general population in the United States. However, the distribution of malignancies was not the same, with a greater prominence of lung cancer and lymphoproliferative disease.