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Types of
Skin Cancers
Actinic Keratosis
- Rough, red or pink scaly patches on sun-exposed areas of the skin,usually
<0.5cm in diameter
- Precurser lesion for squamous cell carcinoma
- Up to 1% of these lesions can develop into a Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Additional information and photos of
actinic keratosis
Basal Cell Carcinoma
- Raised, pink, waxy bumps that may bleed following minor injury
- May have superficial blood vessels and a central depression
- Locally invasive
- Rarely metastasizes
- Organ transplant recipients have a 10-fold higher risk for Basal Cell
Carcinoma compared to the general population(5)
Additional information and photos of Basal
Cell Carcinoma
Squamous Cell Carcinoma:
- Dull red, rough, scaly raised skin lesions
- Occur most frequently on sun exposed areas (head, neck, ears, lips,
back of the hands and forearms)
- Sites particularly associated with elevated risk for recurrence
or metastasis include: ear, lip/perioral, nose, periorbital, genitalia
- Most common skin cancer that occurs in pediatric and adult transplant
recipients
- Squamous Cell Carcinoma tumors can grow very rapidly
- Mutiple cancers can occur simultaneously
- Squamous Cell Carcinoma tends to be more invasive and more aggressive
in transplant patients
- Organ transplant recipients have a 65-fold higher risk for Squamous
Cell Carcinoma and 20-fold higher risk for Squamous Cell Carcinoma of
the lip compared to the general population(6)
- Adult transplant patients tend to develop Squamous Cell Carcinoma
5-7 years following transplant
- Pediatric transplant patients (patients who received their transplants
before the age of 18) tend to develop Squamous Cell Carcinoma an
average of 10 years following transplant (7)
- Pediatric transplant patient have higher risk for Squamous Cell
Carcinoma of the lip compared to adult transplant patients
- Local recurrance rate ~13% in adult transplant patients(8, 9)
- Metastatic rate ~2% in general population
- 5-7% in adult organ transplant patients(10)
- 13% in pediatric organ transplant patients (7)
For additional information and photos of Squamous
Cell Carcinoma
Melanoma
- Neoplasm of pigment (melanin) producing cells
- Brown or black skin lesion with irregularities in symmetry, border
and coloration
- Prognosis dependent on depth of invasion
~100,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed in the United States each
year
- Only 4% of diagnosed skin cancer, but 77% of skin cancer related
deaths
- Organ transplant recipients have a 3 to 4-fold higher risk for melanoma
compared to general population(1)
- Melanoma accounts for ~6% of post transplant skin cancers in adult
transplant recipients(7)
- Melanoma accounts for 12-15% of post transplant skin cancers in
pediatric organ transplant recipients(7)
- Transplant recipients with a pre-transplant history of melanoma
have a high risk of recurrence (~20%)(11)
For additional information and photos of Melanoma
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- Rare, cancer of the cells that line blood vessels (endothelial cells)
- Clinically: brownish-red to blue colored skin lesions found most frequently
on legs and feet
- Caused by Human Herpes Virus 8 (HHV-8) which causes the cells that
line blood vessels (endothelial cells) to become cancerous in the setting
of profound and prolonged immunosuppression
- Typically occurs in patients of Middle Eastern, Jewish, Mediterranean
or African descent where HHV-8 in endemic
- Two main forms of Kaposi's Sarcoma exist
- Cutaneous/Mucocutaneous
- Most common form than occurs in adult transplant patients(12)
- Most adult cases occur within 1-2 years following transplantation
- Treatments include reduction in immunosuppression and rapamycin(13)
- Visceral
- Most common form that occurs in pediatric transplant patients(7)
- Most pediatric cases occur while the patient is < 18 years
old
- Kaposi's Sarcoma tumors can affect the gastrointestinal system,
lymph nodes and lungs
- The visceral form is considered more serious than the cutaneous/mucocutaneous
form
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