The fate of kidney-transplanted patients with a previous history of malignancy. The Scandinavian material.

Between 1956 and 1978, 4820 kidney transplantations were performed in 3959 patients in Scandinavia. In 18 cases the transplantation was performed in patients with a prior malignant tumour. There were 11 cases of tumours of the urinary tract. 3 cases of skin cancer and 4 of tumours in other organs. The observation period was 1-108 months before transplantation and 3-77 months after transplantation. In 14 cases it was possible to make a paired prognostic evaluation between the tumour patient and the recipient of the contralateral kidney from the same donor. On this basis, it was concluded that provided the recipient is observed for about 1 year after the treatment of a tumour and no signs of metastases are seen before transplantation, the previous malignancy does not seem to vitiate the prognosis for the course of the transplantation.