Heart Transplant Recipients May Have a Significantly Higher Melanoma Risk
Source: Dermatology Advisor, November 2024
Patients who have received a heart transplant have a significantly increased risk for melanoma compared with the general population, according to study results published in Melanoma Research.
Previous research has shown an increased risk for melanoma in patients who received other organ transplants, such as a kidney transplant. Therefore, researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis on the incidence and risk factors for melanoma in order to examine this association among patients who received a heart transplant and used long-term immunosuppressant therapy.
A literature search was performed in the PubMed-MEDLINE and EMBASE-OVID databases through July 31, 2024, for observational studies that reported the incidence of melanoma after patients received a heart transplant. The primary outcome was the standardized incidence ratio, hazard ratio, incidence rate ratio, and standardized mortality ratio, which were converted to relative risk (RR).