The correlation between renal transplantation and liver carcinoma: a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE Much of the related researches have reported the correlation between renal transplantation and different tumors in the post transplant recipients. However, there are not exact essays revealed that renal transplantation is definite causation for liver carcinoma, thus we systematically evaluated the association between renal transplantation and the risk of liver carcinoma in this meta-analysis from all available researches. METHODS All useful data were collected through searching of PubMed and Web of Science until the date of 31 September 2015. Random-effects model were adopted to calculate the standardized incidence ratio and 95% confidence interval (CIs) of the risk of liver carcinoma among renal transplant recipients. Other statistical analyses like heterogeneity tests, sensitivity analysis and publication bias were also performed in this meta-analysis. RESULTS Among 17,4256 kidney transplant cases and 25,6736 patients-years observation, 9136 post-transplant cancers were diagnosed. We identified a 2.08-fold higher standardized incidence rate (SIR) (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.24-3.47, P=0.005) of liver carcinoma following renal transplantation compared with the general population. Observation and publication bias were not observed in this study. CONCLUSION This study suggested that the risk of liver carcinoma among renal transplant recipients with chronic hepatic disease is higher than general population. Such results alert clinical doctors the importance of anti-virus therapy with chronic virus hepatitis and enough attention of periodic liver screening with chronic liver diseases in renal transplant recipients.