Background: Kaposi sarcoma is the most common tumor in HIV infected patients.
Aim: To describe a cohort of patients with Kaposi sarcoma.
Material and methods: Retrospective review of HIV patients with Kaposi sarcoma seen at a public hospital and at a HIV clinic. Detailed description of patients subjected to antiretroviral treatment and chemotherapy.
Results: Between 1995 and 2002, 1127 HIV infected patients were seen. Of these, 78 had Kaposi sarcoma, 15 were treated with high activity antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and 17 with HAART and chemotherapy. These 32 patients were male, and their mean age was 33 +/- 6 years. The initial CD4 count in 27 of these was 95 +/- 105 cells/ml. The initial viral load in 18 of these was 370,246 +/- 768,693 RNA copies/ml. Of the 15 patients treated with HAART, eight had a complete remission, one had a partial response, one remained stationary and five died. Of the 17 patients treated with HAART and chemotherapy, seven had complete remission, five had a partial response, 2 remained stationary and three died. The lapse of complete remission was 272 days for those treated with HAART and 292 days for those treated with HAART and chemotherapy.
Conclusions: In HIV patients with Kaposi sarcoma, high activity antiretroviral therapy, associated or not to chemotherapy, induces complete remission in 46% of patients and partial remission in 16%.