Objective: Kaposi Sarcoma (KS) remains an important dermatological and/or systemic neoplasia in HIVinfected patients. The aim of this study was to describe the KS incidence and characteristics in our patient population and to evaluate the recurrences in the whole database and in specific subsets of patients.
Materials and Methods: We created a database where we collected retrospectively clinical and laboratory data regarding HIV-infected patients with KS and actively followed in our service. The use, type and duration of cART regimens, chemotherapy, electrochemotherapy or α-interferon (α-IFN) were recorded. Baseline was set at the diagnosis of KS and follow-up was censored at 2017/06/03. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. The incidence of recurrences was calculated as the number of events during follow-up time. The survival free from recurrences was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier estimate.
Results: Thirty-five patients were included in the database for a 204.95 patient-year follow-up (PYFU). Median calendar year when KS was diagnosed was 2011. Ten (27%) patients had visceral localizations at baseline. Twelve (33.3%) patients were treated with a median of 11 cycles of chemotherapy for a median time of 4 months, 5 (13.9%) with electrochemotherapy and 9 (24.3%) with α-IFN for a median time of 11 months. Recurrences were observed in seven patients, the incidence was 3.4% PYFU with a median (IQR, range) time free from new episodes of 4.9 (1.4-8.85, 0.39-18.23) years. All the patients with visceral lesions with a sufficient follow-up had documented remission.
Conclusions: KS remains a relevant AIDS-related event and new diagnoses are still frequent even in recent years. In our experience recurrences are infrequent. Even if no unique treatment and no possibly preferred antiretroviral regimens or drug classes are recommended by the International Guidelines for epidemic KS, our experience showed that different strategies proposed for its management are effective and safe.