Histopathological assessment of AIDS-defining malignancies in the gastrointestinal tract presenting with acute abdomen: Improving diagnostic timeliness and patient care.

Background: While a large number of cases in an HIV setting may be attributed to infections, there has also been a rise in HIV- associated malignancies such as Kaposi sarcoma and aggressive B-cell lymphoma.

Objective: To describe the clinicopathological features of cases with acute abdomen secondary to AIDS-defining malignancy in the gatrointestinal tract.

Method: This is a retrospective analysis of all cases presenting with acute abdomen and histologically diagnosed AIDS-defining malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract over a period of 8 years in our centre.