Woman dies of cancer after receiving a lung transplant from a smoker – Health – Life

According to a study published in the journal "Lung Cancer", a patient with cystic fibrosis developed a cancer soon after receiving a lung transplant from a smoker in France, warned about the risk of transplanting such organs.

The patient was treated since childhood with cystic fibrosis.

After the rapid deterioration of their respiratory functions, characteristic of this disease, the doctors decided in November 2015 to carry out a lung transplant.

"According to the database of donors, the transplanted lungs belonged to a 57-year-old woman who had been smoking a pack of cigarettes every day for 30 years," according to a study conducted by oncologists at the University Hospital of Montpellier (south).

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, already ill, was admitted to the thoracic oncology unit of the aforementioned hospital. Two months later, he died of lung cancer without being able to try any treatment

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

A cancer whose growth has been considerably accelerated by immunosuppressive treatments. that the patient received 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 donors who smoke (or who have recently stopped smoking) are treated with caution. . "

PARIS (FRANCE)
AFP