Pleural Kaposi sarcoma: an unusual clinical case

Abstract

Kaposi sarcoma is a low-grade mesenchymal tumor associated with human herpesvirus-8. Here we describe the case of a 37-year old woman, who underwent to kidney and liver transplant for congenital hepatic fibrosis and bilateral polycystic kidney, with successive immunosuppressive therapy. After 5 years from first transplant, she developed cutaneous, mucosal, pleural and nodal localizations of Kaposi sarcoma, without lung lesions. Because of an initial clinical presentation with an important nodal and pleural involvement, a diagnosis of a lymphoproliferative disease was suspected. Pathological examination of the pleural sample allowed to exclude lymphoproliferative neoplasia and was consistent with Kaposi sarcoma. Subsequently involvement of other sites was diagnosed as expression of diffuse disease. The interest of this case lays in the unusual clinical presentation which can lead to diagnostic pitfalls when evaluating pleural biopsies.

Keywords: Kaposi sarcoma; pleura; transplant.