OBJECTIVETo investigate the types and therapies of malignancies in renal allograft recipients.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed the occurrence, types, and therapies of malignancies in 498 renal allograft recipients who had received operations in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from May 1986 to October 2008.

RESULTSAmong 498 renal allograft recipients, 18 patients (3.6% ) were diagnosed with malignancies, which included bladder cancer (n = 5), renal pyloric cancer or ureteric cancer (n = 4), leukemia or lymphoma (n = 3), hepatic cancer (n = 2), skin cancer, rectum carcinoma, pulmonary carcinoma and thymoma (n = 1 each). Surgical operations were performed in 10 cases, 6 of whom survived with normal renal function and had no rejection of transplanted kidneys. Three patients with bladder cancer and one patient with ureteric cancer experienced recurrences 7 to 15 months after operations; among them one bladder cancer patient died. One hepatic carcinoma patient died of pulmonary metastasis 8 months after operation. One non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patient died 11 months after chemotherapy. Five cases with advanced unresectable malignancies died 8 to 17 months after the diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONSThe incidences of malignancies, especially urological epithelial carcinoma, are high in renal allograft recipients. Radical surgery of the solid malignancies is a preferred option.