Kaposi sarcoma

Kaposi sarcoma, rare and usually lethal cancer of the tissues beneath the surface of the skin or of the mucous membranes. The disease can spread to other organs, including the liver, lungs, and intestinal tract. Kaposi sarcoma is characterized by red-purple or blue-brown lesions of the skin, mucous membranes, and other organs. Skin lesions may be firm or compressible, solitary or clustered; in some cases (e.g., African lymphadenopathic Kaposi sarcoma) skin lesions may not appear or may appear subsequent to the involvement of the lymph nodes or development of lesions in other organs.

There are four main types of Kaposi sarcoma: classic, which most often affects men of European or Mediterranean descent who are between the ages of 50 and 70; African, which is confined to equatorial Africa; immunosuppressive treatment-related (or iatrogenic), which was first identified among patients who received immunosuppressive drugs for organ transplantation; and epidemic (or AIDS-associated), which occurs primarily in homosexual men infected with HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) and accounts for the majority of cases of the disease. These forms differ further in their course and progression and clinical manifestations. A fifth type, nonepidemic Kaposi sarcoma, which occurs in homosexual men who show no signs of HIV infection, is sometimes also recognized.

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Kaposi sarcoma was considered an extremely rare cancer until 1981, when the disease was reported in homosexual men in New York City and San Francisco; these men were later determined to have AIDS. At that time, Kaposi sarcoma served as an indication for the presence of AIDS in about 48 percent of the cases reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The disease was later diagnosed in 15 to 20 percent of HIV-infected men. Young male homosexuals with AIDS are far more likely to develop Kaposi sarcoma than are other AIDS patients. The breakdown of the immune system and the production of a growth factor by white blood cells infected with HIV seem to encourage the sarcoma’s occurrence—i.e., it is considered an opportunistic tumour. The development of Kaposi sarcoma is also thought to be linked to infection by the herpes virus HHV-8.

There is no known cure for Kaposi sarcoma, although partial and complete remissions have been accomplished with the use of treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. The AIDS patient is nonetheless subject to a return of the disease. The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for those infected with HIV led to a reduction in the incidence of the sarcoma. The disease is named after Mortiz Kaposi, who first reported it in 1872.