Transmission of cancer from donor to organ recipient is very rare (2.2/10 000 transplants — ONT Registry, Spain; 1.3/10 000 transplants — UNOS Registry, USA), but carries serious consequences. It is therefore mandatory to evaluate the donor for the presence of cancer at the time of potential donor evaluation or in the past in order to reduce the risk of transmission of cancer cells with transplanted organ. Following general recommendations largely avoids the transfer of cancer, however each potential donor, especially elder donor requires careful evaluation in this regard. The risk of transmission depends on the type of the cancer (histological type of the tumor and its histological grading) and clinical stage (staging).

For some cancers like basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous skin (SCC) organ metastasis risk is negligible, hence organs from such donors may be accepted for transplantation. For other tumors, including brain tumors donor acceptance depends not only on the type of the tumor and its severity (staging/grading) but also from the policy of transplant center and the clinical situation of the recipient. In Europe there are no uniform recommendations for
the acceptance of donors diagnosed with cancer before and during organ procurement. Below is a brief outline recommendations of European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & Health Care (EDQM), Council of Europe from 2016 and the position of the Polish Transplant Society Working Group (PTS WG) on this issue. In addition we present the position of PTS WG on determination of tumor markers in potential organ donors based on above recommendations, Poltransplant Recommendation 2009, and the strategy of Italian National Transplant Registry Centre (CNT).