Surgeons in the US are reporting promising results after transplanting kidneys once stricken with cancer into patients awaiting organ donations.

Surgeons from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore removed cancer cells and two early-stage benign tumours from five kidneys before implanting them into five end-stage renal failure patients.

The benign masses measured 1cm and 2.3cm and were discovered during routine assessment of donor organs. After the masses were excised from the donor kidneys, analysis revealed no cancerous cells were present in the organs. The kidneys were then reconstructed and transplanted into the five patients, all of whom had been warned of the risk of recurrent cancer after the operation.

The team says that one patient rejected their new kidney but was given medication – and four were still alive at the time of their last health check, which was between nine and 41 months after the transplant operation. None was found to have recurring cancer, the scientists said.

However, one patient died from an unrelated accident about one year after receiving the new kidney.

The average age of the patients was 54 and the average age of the kidney donors 38.

Co-author of the study, Dr Michael Phelan, said:

'Transplanting a living donor kidney which has been affected by a renal mass is controversial and considered a high risk.

'However, the ongoing shortage of organs from deceased donors – and the high risk of dying while waiting for a transplant – prompted five donors and recipients to push ahead with surgery after the small masses were found in the donor kidneys.

'The global increase in patients with end-stage renal disease highlights the importance of identifying novel means to increase the donor pool.’

The findings of the research are published in the journal of the ‘British Association of Urological Surgeons’.

© 5r1 Limited 2009