Transplant patients ‘not told of cancer risk’ - Scotland
Scotsman | Scott Mcnab
THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT is being urged to increase awareness about the dangers to organ transplant patients of developing cancer amid concerns that the risks are still unknown to many Scots.
The drugs issued to organ recipients have been widely linked with the onset of skin cancer. Patients in some areas are made aware of the problem, but the picture is a “hit and miss†across Scotland, according to the partner of one Lanarkshire woman who died recently.
Grant Thomson’s partner, Sharon Argue, died in July from skin cancer, following a successful kidney transplant in 2004. Organ recipients have a 40-70 per cent likelihood of developing this illness, he claims, because the immunosuppressive drugs that prevent the body rejecting the transplanted organ also increase the risk.
The Scottish Government says the potential side effects of the drugs are discussed with 
patients.
But Mr Thomson, 36, from Cumbernauld, says neither he nor Ms Argue had been made aware of the potential risks at the time and, although some parts of the NHS do warn of the risks, a postcode lottery now exists across Scotland.
Read more
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT is being urged to increase awareness about the dangers to organ transplant patients of developing cancer amid concerns that the risks are still unknown to many Scots.
The drugs issued to organ recipients have been widely linked with the onset of skin cancer. Patients in some areas are made aware of the problem, but the picture is a “hit and miss†across Scotland, according to the partner of one Lanarkshire woman who died recently.
Grant Thomson’s partner, Sharon Argue, died in July from skin cancer, following a successful kidney transplant in 2004. Organ recipients have a 40-70 per cent likelihood of developing this illness, he claims, because the immunosuppressive drugs that prevent the body rejecting the transplanted organ also increase the risk.
The Scottish Government says the potential side effects of the drugs are discussed with 
patients.
But Mr Thomson, 36, from Cumbernauld, says neither he nor Ms Argue had been made aware of the potential risks at the time and, although some parts of the NHS do warn of the risks, a postcode lottery now exists across Scotland.
Read more
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
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