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Kaposi's sarcoma of the gallbladder
1Department of Surgery, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.
A 30-year-old man with symptomatic acquired immunodeficiency syndrome presented with abdominal pain and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Radiographic studies revealed thickening of the gallbladder wall. Following stabilization of the coagulation disorder, the patient underwent a cholecystectomy, and the gallbladder was found to contain Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). There have been no previously published reports of KS found in the gallbladder of a living patient in the absence of cutaneous manifestations of KS. The current case illustrates that KS is a multi-focal systemic disease which may have extracutaneous primary manifestations.
A 30-year-old man with symptomatic acquired immunodeficiency syndrome presented with abdominal pain and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Radiographic studies revealed thickening of the gallbladder wall. Following stabilization of the coagulation disorder, the patient underwent a cholecystectomy, and the gallbladder was found to contain Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). There have been no previously published reports of KS found in the gallbladder of a living patient in the absence of cutaneous manifestations of KS. The current case illustrates that KS is a multi-focal systemic disease which may have extracutaneous primary manifestations.