Doctor Catches Cancer from Patient in First-of-a-Kind Case

A doctor operating on a cancer patient accidentally ‘transplanted’ the disease into himself in what is believed to be a unique case, as reported by the Daily Mail UK.

The incident involved a 32-year-old man in Germany who was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer and was undergoing surgery to remove a tumor in his abdomen. During the operation, the surgeon accidentally cut his hand. The wound was promptly disinfected and bandaged.

However, five months later, the 53-year-old surgeon discovered a small lump forming on his hand where the injury occurred. Medical tests revealed the lump was a malignant tumor genetically identical to the cancer previously diagnosed in his patient.

The medical team concluded that the surgeon had contracted the cancer when tumor cells entered the cut on his hand.

This case is considered unusual because, in normal tissue transplants, the immune system typically rejects foreign tissue. However, the tumor’s growth in the surgeon indicated an ‘ineffective antitumor immune response.’

The case, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, detailed how the cancer, malignant fibrous histiocytoma—a rare soft-tissue cancer—was transferred during the surgery. There are only about 1,400 diagnoses of this type annually.

The surgeon injured his hand while placing a drain in the patient’s abdomen. While the surgery on the patient was initially successful, the patient died from post-operative complications.

Months after the incident, the surgeon noticed a 1.2-inch lump at the base of his left middle finger. After an extensive examination, doctors determined the tumor was identical to the patient’s malignant fibrous histiocytoma.

Normally, transplanted tissue triggers an immune response that leads to its rejection, but the surgeon’s case was different. His immune system failed to stop the tumor’s growth, despite an inflammatory reaction around the injury.

After the tumor was removed, no signs of the cancer spreading or recurring were detected in the surgeon.

Doctors speculated that the tumor managed to evade destruction by altering cellular molecules or avoiding detection by the surgeon’s immune system.

This extraordinary case highlights the rare possibility of cancer being transmitted through direct contact with malignant cells, though such occurrences remain exceedingly uncommon.