Photo Credit: Bpawesome
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is associated with an increased risk for subsequent skin cancer. A research team examined the risk for skin cancer following HSCT in a review involving 26 studies with 164,944 HSCT recipients (68,637 underwent allogeneic HSCT; 95,435 underwent autologous HSCT). According to the findings, which the authors published online in the International Journal of Dermatology, the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) for skin cancer post-HSCT was 7.21 overall, with SIRs of 2.25 and 10.18 for autologous and allogeneic HSCT, respectively. Risk factors for skin cancer included chronic graft-versus-host-disease (hazard ratio, 2.86), especially for basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC; hazard ratios, 1.80 and 3.68, respectively), male gender, especially for SCC (hazard ratios, 1.56 and 1.70, respectively), and voriconazole exposure (hazard ratio, 2.01). No significant association was seen between total body irradiation and subsequent skin cancer.