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Many heart transplant patients develop multiple skin cancers, says a new study.

“Solid organ transplant recipients are at increased risk for skin cancers,” the study authors wrote.

“However, these characteristics are documented to a lesser extent in heart transplant patients, who are at least twice as likely to have skin cancer compared with renal transplant recipients.”

The reasons for this could include the greater use of immunosuppressive drugs and older average age at the time of transplant.

Mayo Clinic’s Jerry D. Brewer and colleagues reviewed records of 312 patients who had received heart transplants between 1988 and 2006.

Patients had an average age of 47.4 years at the time of their transplant. Data regarding overall characteristics, cancers, risk factors and death, was extracted from their charts.

The patients developed a total of 1,395 skin cancers; overall, 46.4 percent of the patients had developed skin cancer during the 19 years of follow-up.

“Although a considerable tumour burden was found in this study, the rate of death due to skin cancer was surprisingly low,” the study authors write, according to a Mayo Clinic release.

“Only one patient died of skin cancer,” the authors write. “Vigilant sun protection practices, skin cancer education, regular skin examinations and daily vitamin D supplementation are appropriate interventions in these high-risk… patients,” they conclude.

These findings were published in the December issue of Archives of Dermatology, a JAMA/Archives journals.

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