1. ¹Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
2. ²Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
3. ³Department of Medicine, Division of Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Medicine and the IU Cancer Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA
4. ⁴Departments of Pathology, Laboratory Medicine and Dermatology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
5. ⁵Division of Hematology/Oncology, Hematological Malignancy/Immunology and Stem Cell Transplant programs and the Indiana University Cancer Center, Indiana School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

Correspondence: Dr RP Nelson Jr, 535 Barnhill Dr. #473, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA. E-mail: ronelson@iupui.edu

Received 25 October 2005; Revised 8 February 2006; Accepted 11 February 2006.

Abstract

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common skin cancer in patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy, and is well documented to occur in patients that have undergone either solid organ transplantation or conventional myeloablative bone marrow transplantation. Nonmyeloablative hematopoietic cell transplantation (NMAT) provides transient, intensive immunosuppression, permitting allogeneic engraftment without ablating the marrow. The purpose of this report is to describe six patients that developed SCC (n=3), basal cell carcinoma (n=2), or malignant melanoma (n=2) over a period of 2–26 months following NMAT. All patients had myelodysplasia or acute myelogenous leukemia prior to transplantation. The authors demonstrate for the first time that patients who undergo NMAT are at risk for developing skin cancers and emphasize the need for close surveillance in the post transplantation period.