Post kidney transplantation Kaposi's sarcoma: the experience of a Mediterranean North African center.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the overall and specific incidences of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in a cohort of 568 kidney transplant recipients (KTR) in a single North African Mediterranean center.

Patients And Methods: The records of 568 patients, who underwent kidney transplantation (KT) between June 1986 and December 2013, were retrospectively reviewed. Incidence was calculated by dividing the number of the different events by the total duration of follow-up. Survival rates and cumulated frequencies of KS were calculated according to the actuarial method.

Results: Twelve patients developed KS corresponding to an overall prevalence of 2.1% and an annual incidence of 0.27% patient-years. Median time to diagnosis of KS was 23.3 months. Eleven patients presented with skin lesions; three had oral localizations and one had conjunctival involvement. Asymptomatic gastric localization was observed in one patient. Therapeutic management, consisting in reduction of immunosuppression in all cases and their conversion to sirolimus in four patients, resulted in complete regression of KS in seven patients. Graft loss was observed in three cases and four patients died of unrelated- KS causes.

Conclusion: KS is the most post KT malignancy observed in our country and is characterized by a predominance of limited superficial forms.