Registry series: Prostate Adenocarcinoma (2001)

Record number: 
311
Adverse Occurrence type: 
MPHO Type: 
Estimated frequency: 
Most recent risk assessment for prostate cancer (Council of Europe, 2022): If Gleason score is available, e.g., prostate diagnostics have been initiated a few days before organ procurement, then small intra-prostatic, low-grade (Gleason score ≤ 6) tumours are considered minimal-risk; intra-prostatic tumours with Gleason score 7 are considered low-to-intermediate risk; and intra-prostatic (pT2c) tumours with Gleason score > 7 are considered high-risk. Histological examination of the entire prostate with a valid grading of the tumour is time-consuming and the results might not always be available before an organ is transplanted. Donors with extra-prostatic tumour extension should be unequivocally excluded from the donation process as an unacceptable risk. Prostate cancer in the donor history: The acceptable time intervals for complete remission of prostate cancer are strongly correlated with stage and Gleason grade of the tumour. Donors with a history of curatively treated prostate cancer ≤ pT2 (tumour confined to prostate) and Gleason 3 + 3, as well as donors with very small prostate cancers and Gleason 3 + 3 under ‘active surveillance’, can be accepted for organ donation as minimal transmission risk at any time after diagnosis with the prerequisite of a frequently performed and non-suspicious follow-up. Prostate cancer < pT2 (confined to the prostate) and Gleason grade < 7 after curative treatment and cancer-free period > 5 years is considered minimal-risk. Higher stages/grades and/or shorter cancer-free periods require an individual risk assessment. A history of extra-¬prostatic tumour extension poses a high risk for transmission. In any case, current PSA values should be obtained to compare to former ones and to assess the actual situation.
Time to detection: 
22 months
Alerting signals, symptoms, evidence of occurrence: 
Patient died of multisystem organ failure 22 months after Tx. Donor malignancy transmission (bilateral pulmonary metastases) was discovered during the recipient autopsy.
Demonstration of imputability or root cause: 
Assessment of disease transmission studied by biopsy confirmatory with comparison of the recipient cancer to the primary donor tumour or in some cases genetic allelic analysis (not specified in this particular case).
Imputability grade: 
3 Definite/Certain/Proven
Groups audience: 
Suggest new keywords: 
heart transplant
registry series
malignancy
deceased donor
Suggest references: 
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Expert comments for publication: 
This registry report refers to the patient reported by Loh et al (JAMA 1997;277:133-7) in which it was realized that a donor had metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma after the heart transplant procedure had been initiated.