Includes all haematological and non-haematological malignancies, but excludes benign tumours.
Recipient
UNACCEPTABLE, except completely treated basal cell carcinoma of the skin and cured in-situ carcinoma (see below).
UNACCEPTABLE, but see below.
Donors with malignancy or with a history of malignancy must not donate.
There are two exceptions from this:
1. Cured carcinoma in-situ. In the EU, legislation limits this category to cervical carcinoma in-situ, whereas in other countries cured localized squamous cell carcinoma of the skin cancer, breast cancer in-situ and bladder cancer in-situ might also be acceptable.
2. Successfully and completely treated basal cell carcinoma
Women with known positivity for BRCA1 or 2 but no history of cancer are acceptable as donors. All such women should have a breast examination performed at work-up.
In the above cases, these conditions must always be communicated to the requesting transplant centre.
There is a risk of transmission of malignancy to the recipient.
Melanoma in-situ found in younger people, typical of the age of donors, are uncommon but have a reported recurrence rate of 5%. Such patients are at a higher risk of developing melanoma in other locations. In addition, melanoma has been proven to be transmissible by organ transplantation.
Gandhi MJ, Strong DM. Donor derived malignancy following transplantation: a review. Cell Tissue Bank 2007; 8(4): 267-86.
Otero L, de Souza DC, de Cassia Tavares R, Gomes BE, Padilha TF, Bouzas LF et al. Monosomy 7 in donor cell-derived leukemia after bone marrow transplantation for severe aplastic anemia: Report of a new case and review of the literature. Genet Mol Biol 2012; 35(4): 734-6.
Browne PV, Lawler M, Humphries P, McCann SR. Donor-cell leukemia after bone marrow transplantation for severe aplastic anemia. N Engl J Med 1991; 325(10): 710-3.
See also Project Notify