Devastating result as California transplant recipient develops cancer from liver donor.

A 41-year-old Californian man tragically died less than a year after receiving what was supposed to be a life-saving liver transplant. The patient, who had been battling chronic liver disease, underwent the transplant in 2001 with an organ from a deceased donor.

It was later revealed that the donor had undiagnosed lung cancer. The fatal illness was inadvertently transferred from the donor to the recipient. Despite a valiant effort involving a second transplant to eliminate the cancer, the man ultimately lost his life to the same disease that took the donor's life, just one year following the transplant.

In their report, the medical team managing the case observed: "It is evident that tumour cells broke free from the transplanted liver just one week post-transplantation and entered the bloodstream."

The doctors emphasized that this event represented the "first documented instance of cancer transmission from a donor" despite the initial organ being removed and the recipient undergoing a subsequent transplant.

The 63-year-old donor passed away due to a stroke and did not have any known history of cancer.. Laboratory tests did not indicate any signs of cancer in the patient either.

Nevertheless, an autopsy performed on the donor the day following the surgery revealed the presence of a tumor, according to a report by Mail.

The physicians clarified that the tiny cancer cells were undetectable by scans, leading to the erroneous conclusion that the organ was free of cancer and appropriate for transplantation.

The donor was found to have metastatic pulmonary adenocarcinoma after his death, which is a form of lung cancer that had advanced to the area surrounding his lungs.

After the autopsy, the medical team reinstated the patient on the waiting list for a new liver, and just a week later, a successful transplant took place.

Ten months after his transplant, the Californian man had a CT scan that revealed no signs of cancer. Unfortunately, just six weeks later, he started suffering from abdominal pain and vomiting.

Further examinations showed that he had developed metastatic pulmonary adenocarcinoma, which was the same type of cancer as that of his initial donor. He was hospitalized for treatment but unfortunately succumbed within 24 hours.

Medical experts have verified that the cancer stemmed from his initial donor liver.. Instances of 'transplanted' cancer are exceedingly rare, with no available statistics on the subject and only a few sporadic cases documented in medical literature.