Paulina Petraitytė¹

¹ Vilnius University, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Abstract

Introduction. Kaposi’s sarcoma is a complex multifactorial angioproliferative disease caused by a virus and damage to the immune system. Clinically malignant blood or lymphatic vascular disease of many vascular nodules in the skin and internal organs. Four subtypes of the disease are distinguished, ranging from slow, only with skin lesions to lightning, which is characterized by severe visceral damage and complications.

Materials and methods. Sources were colected using the PubMed database. Mainly 4 filters were used in the search: “Kaposi sarcoma”, “HHV-8”, “Kaposi sarcoma treatment”, “Kaposi sarcoma HIV”. Additionally we applied language, type, publication access, and time filters. Used sources were published in the last 10 years. Innovations in treatment and diagnostics are reviewed using sources published in 2019-2021. A total of 21 bibliographic records were used in the review. After a thorough review of the titles, abstracts, and full text, 16 publications were selected and an additional 5 publications were selected manually.

Aim. To review the latest data on the clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic features of Kaposi’s sarcoma.

Results and Conclusions. Kaposi’s sarcoma is a significant diagnostic challenge in a physician’s professional practice. The main goal of treatment of Kaposi’s sarcoma is to inhibit the progression of the disease and to improve the patient’s general and physical well-being. In order to do that and prevent further complications this article comments on newest local, systemic and combined treatments.

 

Key words: Kaposi’s sarcoma, rash, AIDS, HHV-8.