Donors With Malignancies-Risk or Chance?

The disparity between organ demand and organ supply in renal transplantation has led transplant physicians to pursue a variety of options for increasing the number of donor kidneys. One option is to use kidneys from living or deceased donors who have been diagnosed with a malignant tumor, either of the kidney itself or of other origin. Today, there is an increasing body of evidence in favor of accepting kidneys from donors with renal or ureteral malignancy. This review article, based on a Medline and PubMed search, presents options and strategies for deciding under which circumstances these kidneys may be considered for transplantation. The decision depends on donor tumor characteristics and recipient issues but also on surgical and urological knowledge.