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Kidney transplantation in patients with previous renal cancer: a critical appraisal of current evidence and guidelines

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Abstract

Due to the increasing occurrence of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the general population and the high prevalence of chronic kidney disease among cancer patients, many people with a previous RCC may eventually require renal replacement therapy including kidney transplantation. They should accordingly be evaluated to assess their life expectancy and the risk that the chronic immunosuppressive therapy needed after grafting might impair their long-term outcome. Current guidelines on listing patients for renal transplantation suggest that no delay is required for subjects with small or incidentally discovered RCC, while the recommendations for patients who have been treated for a symptomatic RCC or for those with large or invasive tumours are conflicting. The controversial results reported by even recent studies focusing on the cancer risk in kidney graft recipients with a prior history of malignancy do not help to clarify the doubts arising in everyday clinical practice. Several tools, including integrated scoring systems, are currently available to assess the prognosis of patients with a previous RCC and, although they have not been validated in subjects receiving long-term immunosuppressive drugs, they can be used to identify patients suitable to be listed for grafting. Among these, the Leibovich score is currently the most widely used as it has proved simple and reliable enough and helps categorize renal transplant candidates. According to this system, subjects with a score from 0 to 2 are at low risk and may be listed without delay, while those with a score of 6 or higher should be excluded from grafting. In addition, other factors have an established positive prognostic value, including chromophobe or clear cell papillary tumour, or G1 grade cancer; on the contrary, medullary or Bellini’s duct carcinoma or those with sarcomatoid dedifferentiation at histological examination should be excluded. All other patients would be better submitted to careful individual evaluation by an Oncologist before being listed for renal transplantation, pending studies specifically focusing on cancer risk evaluation in people already treated for malignancy receiving long-term immunosuppressive therapy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nephrology, Dialysis and Renal Transplantation Unit, Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy

    Giovanni M. Frascà & Fabiana Brigante

  2. Urology Department, University of Novara, “Maggiore della Carità” Hospital, Novara, Italy

    Alessandro Volpe

  3. Nephrology and Dialysis Unit, San Carlo Borromeo Hospital, ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo, Milan, Italy

    Laura Cosmai & Maurizio Gallieni

  4. Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences “Luigi Sacco”, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Maurizio Gallieni

  5. Medical Oncology, I.R.C.C.S. San Matteo University Hospital Foundation, Pavia, Italy

    Camillo Porta

  6. Bologna, Italy

    Giovanni M. Frascà

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  1. Giovanni M. Frascà
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Frascà, G.M., Brigante, F., Volpe, A. et al. Kidney transplantation in patients with previous renal cancer: a critical appraisal of current evidence and guidelines. J Nephrol 32, 57–64 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40620-018-0542-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40620-018-0542-y

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