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

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.

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.

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/mm³, CD4⁺/CD8⁺ level ≤0.39 cells/mm³, and CD4⁺ nadir level <50 cells/mm³ were related to overall survival.

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