HIV-positive patients with oral Kaposi's sarcoma: An overall survival analysis of 31 patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of viral load and lymphocyte count on survival of patients who presented with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated oral Kaposi's sarcoma.

Study Design: Thirty-one cases (from January 2010 to December 2019) of oral Kaposi's sarcoma in patients with HIV from 2 oral pathology centers in Brazil were reviewed, considering clinical data and correlation of viral load and lymphocyte count with overall survival. Overall survival rates were estimated by a Kaplan-Meier analysis and compared using a log-rank test. The factors introduced stepwise into a Cox proportional hazard model to identify the independent predictors of survival. A P value <.05 was considered significant.

Results: Most of the patients were males (90.3%) with a mean age of 32.4 years (range, 19-58). Hard palate, soft palate, and tongue were the most affected sites. Treatment, viral load >999 copies/mL, CD4 level ≤200 cells/mm, CD4/CD8 level ≤0.39 cells/mm, and CD4 nadir level <50 cells/mm were related to overall survival.

Conclusions: Survival of patients affected by oral HIV-associated Kaposi's sarcoma is influenced by treatment, viral load, CD4, CD4/CD8, and CD4 nadir count.