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At its best, lung transplantation may restore people with end-stage cystic fibrosis (CF) to a state of health they had long since forgotten. But it also brings new challenges and burdens, including ongoing commitment to intensive follow-up and demanding drug regimens with a range of new adverse effects. Thornton et al have highlighted an important but perhaps overlooked consequence of the immune suppression necessary after lung transplantation—that of cervical dysplasia caused by human papilloma virus (HPV).1 In a single-centre retrospective study, they reported high rates of HPV-associated morbidity in women with CF who had undergone lung transplant, and a 4 x greater risk of cervical dysplasia compared with non-transplanted CF controls. More worryingly, four of the cohort (12%) developed cervical cancer and two (6%) died …
Footnotes
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Contributors AH and MA-A discussed and composed this commentary.
Funding ARH is supported by the NIHR Manchester BRC. ARH and MA-A are in receipt of grant funding from the JP Moulton Charitable Trust for lung transplant research, unconnected to the topic of this commentary.
Disclaimer The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.