VOA标准英语2011--Cancer Rate Doubles in Transplant Recipients

Cancer Rate Doubles in Transplant Recipients¹

 

Organ transplant recipients have a much greater risk of cancer than the general population, according to a new study, but the reason is not entirely² clear.

Cancer growth is often triggered by viruses, and the body’s immune system helps keep those viruses in check. But transplant recipients get powerful drugs to suppress their immune system, so that they don't reject the transplanted organ.

Researchers have known that transplant recipients are more likely to get cancer, but this new study, published in JAMA, shows how much more likely.

Lead author Eric Engles, of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, says getting an organ transplant can double your risk of cancer during the year after transplant.

“So, if a population like ours would be expected to develop about seven cancers in 1,000 people, we observed about twice that - about 13 or 14 cancers among 1,000 people [who got transplants] followed for one year.”

Engles and his colleagues used records of 175,000 U.S. transplant patients. Kidney transplants were the most common, followed by liver, heart and lung.

The cancers sometimes showed up in the transplanted organ. Kidney cancer was most common in kidney recipients. Likewise, lung cancer among lung recipients.

Getting an organ transplant can double your risk of cancer during the year after transplant, according to a new study from the National Cancer Institute.

But other cancers didn't have a direct link with the organ that was transplanted. For example, the most common cancer among transplant recipients is non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which affects the immune system.

“And this is seen in immuno-compromised people, and it's due to a virus, Epstein-Barr virus," Engles says. "And we saw a very elevated risk for this cancer, particularly among lung recipients, and we think that that high risk might relate in part to the fact that those people receive especially intense immune suppression.”

Even though transplant patients may face a doubled risk of cancer, Engles says it must be put into the context of other transplant risks - including organ rejection³ and infection - and the procedure’s benefits.

“Transplantation is a life-saving therapy and is one of the miracles of modern medicine. Cancer is one of the important complications of transplantation, but it's not the only one.”

1 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。