Three people died of breast cancer after they each received an organ from the same donor in a case experts have described as "extraordinary." The 53-year-old organ donor died of stroke in 2007, and agreed for her lungs, liver, kidneys, and heart to be implanted into those in need. Sixteen months to six years after their transplants, all four recipients were diagnosed with cancer. Three of the four died after the disease spread, according to a case study in the American Journal of Transplantation. The remaining patient survived after surgeons removed the kidney he received, and he underwent a course of chemotherapy. "In what is believed to be the first case of a patient passing cancer on to four recipients, doctors failed to spot tumor cells in the organs before inserting them into the patients' bodies. The chance of getting cancer from a donor is between 0.01 to 0.005 percent. The authors believe storing warm organs without a blood supply could have helped tumor cells to spread. The immunosuppressants the patients took may have in turned allowed the disease to grow undetected.
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