In a rare and unprecedented medical case, a German surgeon contracted cancer from a patient during surgery, as reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. This is the first known instance of malignant tumor cells being transferred from a patient to a doctor.
The incident occurred while the surgeon, a 53-year-old, was performing an operation on a 32-year-old patient with malignant fibrous histiocytoma, a rare cancer found in only 1,400 cases annually. During the surgery, the surgeon accidentally cut his hand while placing a drain. Despite cleaning and bandaging the wound immediately, five months later, the surgeon developed a 1.2-inch lump at the base of his middle finger.
A hand specialist identified the lump as a malignant tumor, which was later confirmed to be genetically identical to the cancerous tissue removed from the patient. Experts concluded that the surgeon contracted the cancer when tumor cells from the patient entered the open wound.
This case is unusual because the body generally rejects foreign tissue, such as in organ transplants. However, in this case, the surgeon’s immune system seemed to initiate an inflammatory response but failed to eliminate the tumor cells, allowing the cancer to develop.
While the patient’s surgery was initially successful, he eventually passed away from complications unrelated to the tumor. The surgeonβs tumor was also diagnosed as malignant fibrous histiocytoma, and further tests confirmed the cancer cells in both the patient and the doctor were genetically identical. After removing the tumor, the surgeon showed no signs of recurrence or metastasis.
