Bone and Soft Tissue Oncology

Patient and Family Education

Kaposi's Sarcoma

Symptoms and Diagnosis

Kaposi's sarcoma is often detected by the appearance of lesions on the skin, which are usually flat, painless and don't itch or drain. They may resemble bruises in their reddish, blue or purple color (they appear as brown or black patches on dark-skinned people). But unlike bruises, Kaposi's lesions don't lose their color when you press on them.

The only way to be sure a lesion has been caused by Kaposi's, however, is for a doctor to take a biopsy or small tissue sample from the lesion to be analyzed at a lab. For skin lesions, a doctor will usually perform a punch biopsy, which removes a piece of tissue about one-sixth of an inch in diameter from the lesion. If the skin lesion is small enough, the doctor may perform an excisional biopsy and remove the entire lesion.

Kaposi's sarcoma on the skin isn't life threatening, but Kaposi's on other parts of the body can be serious. About one in three people with AIDS-related Kaposi's will get lesions in the mouth and throat. When tender and sore, they can cause trouble with eating and swallowing. They may even lead to tooth loss.

In about 40 to 50 percent of all AIDS-related Kaposi's, lesions are found in the stomach. These lesions usually cause no problems, but, in some cases, there may be pain, internal bleeding and blockages in the digestive tract that lead to constipation.

Lesions may also develop in the rectum, lymph nodes and lungs, causing shortness of breath, wheezing, heavy coughing and coughing up blood. Kaposi's in the lungs and other internal organs can be life threatening.

For the internal organs, lesion biopsies are performed either by endoscopy, the insertion of a flexible tube into the stomach or bowel, or by bronchoscopy, the insertion of a tube into the lungs.

This page was last updated on: September 21, 2009.