A patient dies of cancer after receiving a lung transplant from a smoker

The patient was treated with cystic fibrosis since childhood and, after the deterioration of their respiratory function, doctors decided in November 2015 to proceed with [1945900] lung transplantation.

"According to the donor database, the transplanted lungs belong to a 57-year-old woman who has been smoking a pack of cigarettes every day for 30 years," according to a study by medical oncologists at the University Hospital from Montpellier.

The study indicates that tests performed at the time of brain death of the donor did not reveal any abnormalities.

In June 2017, the patient, ill, was admitted to the thoracic oncology unit of the aforementioned hospital. Two months later, he died of a lung cancer without any therapy being attempted.

According to the study, the symptoms correspond to cancer caused by smoking. "The short time between lung transplantation and the appearance of the first radiological abnormality suggests that carcinogenesis began in the donor's life," the authors of the document add.

A cancer whose growth was greatly accelerated by the immunosuppressive treatments received by the patient to avoid rejection of her new lungs.

According to Dr. Jean-Louis Pujol and colleagues, "given the relatively long latency of lung cancer, we suggest that transplants of smoking donors be treated with caution."

Source: AFP