Health

Surgeon catches CANCER from patient in first-of-its-kind case.

January, 03, 2025-04:19

Share: Facebook | Twitter | Whatsapp | Linkedin | Visits: 37743 | :2821

---

Surgeon catches CANCER from patient in first-of-its-kind case

A doctor operating on a cancer patient accidentally 'transplanted' the disease into himself, in what is believed to be a one-of-a-kind event. A 32-year-old man from Germany had been diagnosed with a rare type of cancer and was having a tumor removed from his abdomen. While in surgery, the doctor performing the procedure accidentally cut his hand, but the wound was disinfected and bandaged immediately.

However, five months later, the 53-year-old surgeon noticed a small lump developing where he had injured himself months earlier and sought care. The lump turned out to be a malignant tumor and tests showed it was genetically identical to the cancer suffered by his former patient. This leads the medical team who treated him to conclude he had caught the cancer when tumor cells entered the cut on his hand.

Authors of the case report called this a usual situation because in a traditional transplant, the body mounts an immune response and rejects any foreign tissue, and they would have expected the same in the doctor's case. However, given the tumor's development, and growth, it suggests the surgeon's body had an 'ineffective antitumor immune response.' Above are findings from the analysis of the patient's tumor (left) and the surgeon's tumor (right). They revealed the two men had 'identical' tumors

Doctors noted the case was interesting because transplanted tissue differs from the host tissue and is usually targeted by the host's immune system in an attempt to destroy it. This is why organ recipients must take immunosuppressive drugs to make sure their body does not reject the transplanted organ. But while the surgeon developed inflammation around his original cut, his immune response did not stop the tumor from growing.

Cases like the surgeons are extremely rare and there are no statistics on 'transplanted' cancer. A 2013 review of these cases published in the Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, states there is no estimation of risk for transmitting cancer from donor to recipient and there is limited data on the subject. Report authors wrote: 'The incidence of any cancer transmission is so low that sporadic case reports are the main source of information.'

An earlier review from 1993 that looked at data from the 1970s also found there were only 'sporadic' reports of cancer being transmitted through organ donation. The 2013 review added: 'The low frequency and very variable stage of cancers mean that definitive risk calculations are impossible.'

However, the authors continued, the data is 'highly likely to underestimate the true incidence.' Using the limited data available, authors of the 2013 report found cancers known to have been transmitted from donor to recipient on at least one occasion include, breast cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer and renal cancer.