Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in solid organ transplant recipients

  • Head and Neck
  • Published:
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Characterize head and neck squamous cell carcinomas in solid transplant recipients and compare outcomes with non-transplanted population.

Methods

We carried a retrospective cohort analysis in a tertiary care center in Madrid, Spain. The study reviews 26 cases of non-cutaneous HNSCC diagnosed in solid organ transplant recipients between 2000 and 2017. We select a cohort of 130 (1:5) non-transplanted patients among all non-transplanted patients diagnosed during the same period for comparison purposes, through hierarchical clustering analysis. Univariate, overall and specific survival analysis and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression were used to evaluate our objectives.

Results

The overall risk of non-cutaneous HNSCC in solid transplant recipients was 7.2 cases per 1000. Alcohol abuse (p = 0.021) and upfront surgery (p = 0.019) were more likely to occur in transplanted patients. Age > 60 was an independent predictor of worse outcomes both for overall (HR = 2.4, p < 0.001) and specific (HR = 2.1, p = 0.012) survival.

Transplant significantly worse overall survival (HR = 2.1, p = 0.012) but no statistical significant differences were observed on specific survival (p = 0.392).

Conclusions

Solid organ transplant recipients have a higher risk of suffering non-cutaneous HNSCC. The higher mortality rate of these patients does not appear to be directly related to suffering from head and neck cancer, although it seems to contribute to developing other fatal complications in these fragile patients.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Engels EA, Pfeiffer RM, Fraumeni JF, Kasiske BL, Israni AK, Snyder JJ et al (2011) Spectrum of cancer risk among US solid organ transplant recipients. JAMA 306(17):1891–1901

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Benoni H, Eloranta S, Ekbom A et al (2020) Survival among solid organ transplant recipients diagnosed with cancer compared to nontransplanted cancer patients—a nationwide study. Int J Cancer 146:682–691. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.32299

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Noone AM, Pfeiffer RM, Dorgan JF et al (2019) Cancer-attributable mortality among solid organ transplant recipients in the United States: 1987 through 2014. Cancer 125:2647–2655. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.32136

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. D’Arcy ME, Coghill AE, Lynch CF et al (2019) Survival after a cancer diagnosis among solid organ transplant recipients in the United States. Cancer 125:933–942. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.3178

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Mowery AJ, Conlin MJ, Clayburgh DR (2019) Elevated incidence of head and neck cancer in solid organ transplant recipients. Head Neck 41:4009–4017. https://doi.org/10.1002/hed.25937

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Deeb R, Sharma S, Mahan M, Al-Khudari S, Hall F, Yoshida A et al (2012) Head and neck cancer in transplant recipients. Laryngoscope 122:1566–1569

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Rabinovics N, Mizrachi A, Hadar T et al (2014) Cancer of the head and neck region in solid organ transplant recipients. Head Neck 36(2):181–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Nelissen C, Lambrecht M, Nevens F, Van Raemdonck D, Vanhaecke J, Kuypers D et al (2014) Noncutaneous head and neck cancer in solid organ transplant patients: single center experience. Oral Oncol 50:263–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Madeleine MM, Finch JL, Lynch CF, Goodman MT, Engels EA (2013) HPV-related cancers after solid organ transplantation in the United States. Am J Transplant 13:3202–3209

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Preciado D, Matas A, Adams G (2002) Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in solid organ transplant recipients. Head Neck 24:319–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (2018) Head and neck cancer (version 1.2018). https://jnccn.org/view/journals/jnccn/16/5/article-p479.xml

  12. Park MJ, Roh J-L, Choi S-H, Nam SY, Kim SY, Lee YS (2018) De novo head and neck cancer arising in solid organ transplantation recipients: the Asan Medical Center experience. Auris Nasus Larynx 45(4):838–845

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Alsidawi S, Price KA, Chintakuntlawar AV, Westin GF, Garcia JJ, Ma DJ, Okuno SH (2017) Characteristics and long term outcome of head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma in solid organ transplantation. Oral Oncol 72:104–1009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Coordes A, Albers AE, Lenarz M, Seehofer D, Puhl G, Pascher A et al (2015) Incidence and long-term survival of patients with de novo head and neck carcinoma after liver transplantation. Head Neck 38:707–714

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Scheifele C, Reichart P, Hippler-Benscheidt M, Neuhaus P, Neuhaus R (2005) Incidence of oral, pharyngeal, and laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas among 1515 patients after liver transplantation. Oral Oncol 41(7):670–676

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Coordes A, Albers AE, Lenarz M, Seehofer D, Puhl G, Pascher A, Neuhaus R, Neuhaus P, Pratschke J, Andreou A (2016) Incidence and long-term survival of patients with de novo head and neck carcinoma after liver transplantation. Head Neck 38(5):707–714

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Liu Q, Yan L, Cheng Xu, Aihua Gu, Zhao P, Jiang Z-Y (2014) Increased incidence of head and neck cancer in liver transplant recipients: a meta-analysis. Cancer 14:776

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Doycheva I, Amer S, Watt KD (2016) De novo malignancies after transplantation: risk and surveillance strategies. Med Clin North Am 100:551–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Acuna SA, Huang JW, Scott AL, Micic S, Daly C, Brezden-Masley C, Kim SJ, Baxter NN (2017) Cancer screening recommendations for solid organ transplant recipients: a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines. Am J Transplant 17:103–114

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, 12 de Octubre Hospital, Madrid, Spain

    Isabel Fernández-Carrera González, Irene Rivero Fernández, Marta Sanz Rodríguez, Esther García González, Carlos Almodóvar Álvarez & Javier Gavilanes-Plasencia

  2. C/Fuencarral, 74, 2k, 28004, Madrid, Spain

    Isabel Fernández-Carrera González

Authors
  1. Isabel Fernández-Carrera González
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christian Ibarra Estupiñan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Irene Rivero Fernández
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Marta Sanz Rodríguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Esther García González
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Carlos Almodóvar Álvarez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Javier Gavilanes-Plasencia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by IF-CG, CIE, IRF, MSR, EGG and JGP. The first draft of the manuscript was written by IF-CG and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Isabel Fernández-Carrera González.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Availability of data and material

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

Code is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fernández-Carrera González, I., Ibarra Estupiñan, C., Rivero Fernández, I. et al. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in solid organ transplant recipients. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 278, 211–218 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-06129-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-06129-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation