CUTANEOUS COMPLICATIONS IN HEART-TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS IN NORWAY 1983-1993

All Norwegian heart transplant recipients with more than one year's su rvival (n = 140) were investigated for dermatological disorders, Obser vation time after transplantation was 1-10 gears (mean 5.0 years). Pat ients alive at the end of 1993 (n = 122) were examined clinically, and medical records for all patients were reviewed. The histopathological diagnoses of excised skin specimens were reevaluated. Malignant skin tumours (i.e. basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and malign ant melanoma) and/or premalignant skin tumours (i.e. morbus Bowen (car cinoma in situ), solar keratosis and keratoacanthoma) were found in 34 patients (24.3%), of which 18 patients (12.9%) had malignant skin tum ours. Seventeen lesions diagnosed as keratoacanthoma and two lesions d iagnosed as morbus Bowen had primarily been diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma. Five patients (3.6%) had multiple keratoacanthomas. Other frequent dermatological diagnoses included hypertrichosis (86.9%), ste roid-induced skin features (59.8%), common warts (42.6%) and seborrhei c skin disorders (20.5%), This study demonstrates the importance of de rmatological surveillance in the follow-up of heart transplant recipie nts.