Poster Presentation 35th Lorne Cancer Conference 2023

Risk of developing skin cancers before and after solid organ transplant (#235)

Jane Theophillia Wijaya 1 2 , Ethan Goh 3 , Zhao Feng Liu 1 3 , Adam Lapidus 1 4 , Samuel Hong 3 , Raymond Wu 4 , Symrin Oad 3 , Daniel Wang 3 , Lawrence Lin 3 , Jessica Srivastava 3 , Crystal Gao 1 , Christopher Chew 1 3 , Joy Yee 1 , Sarah Shen 1 , Priska McDonald 1 , Johannes S. Kern 1 3 , Douglas Gin 1 3
  1. Alfred Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  2. School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
  3. Faculty of Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  4. Faculty of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne , Victoria , Australia

Background and Aims

Solid organ and hematopoietic transplant recipients are at an increased risk of developing skin cancer. The study aims to identify patient-reported risk factors for basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and melanoma, in pre- and post-solid organ transplant patients.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was performed on 266 participants who had completed a questionnaire on their risk factors for skin cancers, including smoking status, previous history of skin cancers, family history of skin cancer, eye colour, hair colour, Fitzpatrick (FP) skin type, sun exposure, solarium use and the number of naevi. A univariate analysis comparing patients with and without a previous history skin cancer, was conducted using Fisher’s exact test.

Results

Preliminary data found an increased risk of skin cancer for individuals with blue eyes (OR 6.00, p=0.0005), FP skin phototype 1-3 (OR 4.89, p=0.0003), more than 10 blistering sunburns (OR 3.01, p=0.0281), and patient-reported significant sun exposure (OR 3.22, p=0.0001). There is also a decreased risk of skin cancer in individuals with brown eyes (OR 0.203, p=0.0024), black hair (OR 0.297, p=0.0193) and FP skin phototype 4-6 (OR 0.205, p=0.0003). There was no statistically significant correlation between ex-smokers and skin cancer (OR 1.95, p=0.146).

Conclusion and Significance/Impact

The findings of this retrospective, cross-sectional study identified patient-reported modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for the development of skin cancer. Future studies will aim to clinically correlate patient-reported factors with their medical record to better understand the effect of immunosuppression and organ transplantation on skin cancer risk.