😷 Surgeon Transplants Cancer... To Himself 😷

This is one of those times I come across s really bizarre medical report... And the next thing I do is to share it with ya guys 😄

The paper describing the incident was published in 1996 and in short describes how a surgeon accidentally transplantated a malignant sarcoma from a patient to... himself 😅😂

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It all started when a 32 year old man underwent emergency surgery for a "malignant fibrous histiocytoma" from his abdomen. The patient died a bit later due to complications from surgery but that's not really relevant to the story. Just a sad detail.

During the surgery the surgeon, age 53, injured his palm while placing a drain and immediately disinfected it.

Fast forward five months later, the surgeon notices a tumor-like swelling at the place of the injury. He gets alarmed, visits a specialist and undergoes surgery to have the tumor removed. The lab tests confirm it's a cancer, specifically "malignant fibrous histiocytoma". Like the one from the patient 5 months ago!

Coincidence? Another specialist thinks not. So, some more lab work gets done and it reveals the two tumors were identical!!!

The surgeon had literally infected himself with the patient's cancer! Normally, that is impossible as the body immediately identifies the allogeneic tissue and destroys it.

But somehow, this time the tumor managed to escape:

Normally, transplantation of allogeneic tissue from one person to another induces an immune response that leads to the rejection of the transplanted tissue.1,14–17 In the case of the surgeon, an intense inflammatory reaction developed in the tissue surrounding the tumor, but the tumor mass increased, suggesting an ineffective antitumor immune response. The tumor may have escaped immunologic destruction through several mechanisms, such as qualitative and quantitative changes of major histocompatibility complex class I molecules on the tumor cells, an absence of immunogenic tumor antigens,18–22 deficient antigen processing by the tumor, or deficient presentation of tumor antigens by the host's antigen-presenting cells in the absence of costimulatory signals with consequent T-cell and B-cell anergy source

In case you wonder, the surgeon was doing mighty fine after two years with no signs of ill effects from the transplanted cancer!

And that's the story of the doctor who accidentally self transplanted a cancer. 😅

Here's a link to the report which has some more info and technical mumbo jumbo if you fancy to read more on the story.

Posted Using InLeo Alpha



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47 comments
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You received an upvote of 84% from Precious the Silver Mermaid!

Please remember to contribute great content to the #SilverGoldStackers tag to create another Precious Gem.

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You have to be careful about needle sticks as a surgeon, it's a great way to pick up some bad shit!
!BBH
!DOOK

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That only shows how cancer is a parasit organism that is built with our own cells!! in this case could infect another organism that isn't the host! interesting and very fearsome!!!
!hiqvote

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It's a bit scary when you think about it. I didn't know cancer can be transferred. What if it's weaponized? 😱
!BBH
!PIMP

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Yeah, that was more like a one in a million thing.. Much better things to weaponize :D

!pimp

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Has to be one of the biggest F ups in surgical history to this day . . . that's crazy

!BBH

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It's a weird way to get cancer, but I guess you can never be too safe.

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Man.....since I work in surgery this would really be my worst nightmare. I really did not know this was possible also getting tumors from this... yikes!

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Well highly unlikely. It's like winning the lotto 😂

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This story gave me a lot of terror, and at the same time made me laugh as you describe the end of the man's cancer transplant, with emoji included hahaha. I enjoyed reading it, cheers! ✌️

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Wow! So, cancer can be contagious, even if that means the cells have to be transplanted. Apparently this is rare, but not unique. You sent me to Google once again and I found this (from ABC Science)

In the case of solid organ transplants, such as liver or kidneys, there have been reports of cancer being unknowingly transmitted from the donor to the recipient. While donors and their organs are screened for cancer it can, on very rare occasions, slip through undetected. However the risk is incredibly low — around 0.015 per cent, according to Australian guidelines.

Finally, there is also evidence that cancer can be transmitted from a mother to her unborn child but again, this is very rare.

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the biggest risk is an aggressive patient on drugs. the rescue service is sometimes ungrateful

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Talk about handing yourself a problem! This surgeon really took 'getting too close to your work' to a whole new level! 👨‍⚕️🫣

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