MALIGNANT-TUMORS IN HEMODIALYSIS-PATIENTS

We reviewed the incidence of malignant tumors among 923 patients with chronic renal failure, treated with hemodialysis (HD) in seven dialysi s centers in Serbia between January 1983 and July 1993, Neoplasms were diagnosed in 45 cases (4.9%). The mean age of the cancer patients was 58.7 years. Eighteen cases (40.0%) were diagnosed in the first year a fter starting HD treatment and 21 (46.7%) cases were detected less tha n 5 years after induction of HD treatment. Most of the cancer patients (60.0%), especially the patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy (31. 1%), developed cancer of the urinary tract. We concluded that HD patie nts have a several times greater risk of developing malignant tumors t han the general population.