SCREENING OF GASTRIC CANCER IN LIVER TRANSPLANTATION PATIENTS: A CASE REPORT AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Liver and other solid organ transplant recipients are at an increased risk of developing several malignancies because of the immuno-suppressive treatment. Generally, patients who had a liver transplant have upper gastrointestinal tract complaints, which makes identification of gastric carcinoma symptoms in those patients difficult. A 58 years old liver transplant male patient presented to the hospital for his routine checkup and dyspeptic complaints. He had received a liver from a cadaver 18 months ago and his postoperative period had been uneventful. An esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) revealed gastric cancer. A subtotal gastric resection with a D2 lymph node dissection was carried out. There was no recurrence during three years follow up. In order to make a timely identification of the occurrence of common malignancies such as gastric cancer, liver transplant recipients must be followed closely.