Bone and Soft Tissue Oncology

Patient and Family Education

Kaposi's Sarcoma

Treatment

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There are four primary treatments for patients with Kaposi's sarcoma:

surgery
chemotherapy
radiation therapy
biological therapy

Surgery

Surgery may be used to take out the cancer. A doctor may remove the cancer using one of the following procedures:

Local Excision: Cuts out the lesion and some of the tissue around it
Electrodesiccation and Curettage: Burns the lesion and removes it with a sharp instrument
Cryotherapy: Freezes the tumor and kills it

Side effects of surgery: The side effects of surgery depend on the location of the tumor and the type of operation, among other factors. Although patients are often uncomfortable during the first few days after surgery, this pain can usually be controlled with medicine. The recovery period after an operation varies from patient to patient.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy may be taken by pill, or it may be injected into the body through a needle in a vein or muscle. Chemotherapy is called a systemic treatment because the drug enters the bloodstream, travels through the body and can kill cancer cells outside the original site. Chemotherapy for Kaposi's sarcoma also may be injected into the lesion (intralesional chemotherapy).

Side effects of chemotherapy: Chemotherapy drugs generally fight rapidly dividing cells in the body. Cells that divide rapidly include both the targeted cancer cells and healthy cells in the blood, digestive tract and hair follicles. Depending on which anticancer drugs a patient receives, he or she may experience symptoms when healthy cells are damaged along with the cancer cells. If healthy blood cells are destroyed by chemotherapy, the patient may be more susceptible to infections, bruising or bleeding and fatigue. When cells in the hair roots or digestive tract are affected by anticancer drugs, the patient may have hair loss, nausea, vomiting or mouth sores.

Not all chemotherapy patients develop all of these side effects, and the symptoms usually go away during the recovery period or after the treatments are done. Doctors can prescribe medicines and other treatments to control most of the symptoms.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy is a common treatment for Kaposi's sarcoma. Radiation therapy uses high-dose X-rays or other high-energy rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation for Kaposi's sarcoma comes from a machine outside the body (external beam radiation therapy).

Side effects of radiation: The most common side effects of radiation therapy are tiredness, skin reactions in the treated areas (such as a rash or redness) and loss of appetite. Radiation therapy may also cause a decrease in the number of white blood cells that help protect the body against infection. Most of these side effects can be treated or controlled and in most cases they are not permanent.

Biological Therapy

Biological therapy tries to get the body to fight the cancer. It uses materials made by the body or made in a laboratory to boost, direct or restore the body's natural defenses against disease. Biological therapy is sometimes called biological response modifier (BRM) therapy or immunotherapy.

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