Several types of rare skin cancers have occasionally been reported in organ transplant recipients. The low incidence of these tumors in the general population makes it difficult to assess the true incidence in patients following organ transplantation; the fortuitous association of these malignancies with transplant-associated immuno-suppression cannot be totally excluded, though it is conceivable (and probable) that immunosuppression favors their development, as it does for other cancers, such as nonmelanoma skin cancer, melanoma, lymphomas, and Kaposi's sarcoma, all of which have been shown to be truly increased by the observed versus the expected incidence in comprehensive skin cancer registries. The principal data concerning these rare tumors in the setting of organ transplantation are reviewed below.
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