4 get cancer from teen’s donated organs

[PeppyGPhiB]

This is horrible!

4 get cancer from teen’s donated organs

15-year-old died from rare form of lymphoma that wasn’t found till autopsy

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - Alex Koehne had a love for life, and always wanted to help people.

So when his parents were told that their 15-year-old son was dying of bacterial meningitis, the couple didn't hesitate in donating his organs to desperately ill transplant recipients.

"I immediately said, 'Let's do it'," Jim Koehne recalled. "We both thought it was a great idea. This is who Alex was."

A year later, their dream that Alex's spirit might somehow live on has become a nightmare.

Autopsy discovery
It turned out that Alex did not die of bacterial meningitis, but rather a rare form of lymphoma that wasn't found until his autopsy, and apparently spread to the organ recipients. The Long Island couple was told that two of the recipients have died, and two others had the donor kidneys removed and are getting cancer treatment.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24001110

[knight_shadow]

I literally just read that. That's crazy!

What a shitty time for this article. (not directed at you, Peppy)

April is National Donate Life Month.

[Scandia]

Oh my goodness that is so horrible.

But I did not think cancer could be contagious. Although if the organs had cancerous cells, and they kept multiplying inside the recipient's body, then that is the only possibility for this to have happened.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by Scandia

Oh my goodness that is so horrible.

But I did not think cancer could be contagious. Although if the organs had cancerous cells, and they kept multiplying inside the recipient's body, then that is the only possibility for this to have happened.

Yes, that's what happened - the organs were already cancerous or pre-cancerous. Lymphoma is passed throughout the body's lymph nodes, and that frequently passes to nearby organs.

[BabyPiNK_FL]

I remember reading about something like this with some other disease. What it was I can't remember, but it was something serious. Honestly, they need to know these things. How can they figure it out in the autopsy and not tell people sooner? These people wanted a chance to live, not to die of something else. How sad.

[cuteASAbug]

Originally Posted by BabyPiNK_FL

Honestly, they need to know these things. How can they figure it out in the autopsy and not tell people sooner? These people wanted a chance to live, not to die of something else. How sad.

According to the article, the transplant recipients were all notified of this as soon as the autopsy revealed that it was lymphoma.

[Kevin]

The recipients are talking about suing. Can you imagine the strain on the system which would occur if the standard of care became that all organs would be tested for cancer (and whatever else) prior to being used? I would think a policy like that would kill more people than it saved.

Very sad for these four victims, but this seems like an inherent risk in that sort of procedure (although a very remote risk).

The problem could have probably just as easily been something like AIDS. Docs, correct me if I'm in left field here.

[Dionysus]

So, could someone get cancer from blood transfusions?

[SigKapSweetie]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

So, could someone get cancer from blood transfusions?

Short answer? No.

Long answer? There are certain viruses that can cause types of cancer (African EBV and HTLV-1 come to mind). I don't know if these are screened for by blood banks (and am frankly too lazy to look it up ). Does anyone else know?

[AGDee]

So many people die while waiting for a compatible organ and organ transplants are pretty high risk as it is, so I think a lawsuit would be frivolous in this case. If they knew and did the organ transplant anyway, that would be a whole nother ball game.

[ThetaPrincess24]

Originally Posted by AGDee

So many people die while waiting for a compatible organ and organ transplants are pretty high risk as it is, so I think a lawsuit would be frivolous in this case. If they knew and did the organ transplant anyway, that would be a whole nother ball game.

Yes.