Kaposi's sarcoma and AIDS in Uganda: its frequency and gastrointestinal distribution

The frequency and distribution of gastrointestinal Kaposi's sarcoma were investigated in 63 consecutive AIDS patients. The main risk factor for AIDS was heterosexual intercourse. Gastrointestinal lesions were found in 24 cases (38.1%): 12 patients (11.1%) had both upper and lower GI tract involvement, 7 patients (11.1%) had only oesophago-gastroduodenal lesions and 5 (7.9%) only lower tract disease. Our results show that in heterosexual Africans, the tumours closely resemble the tumours of western homosexuals in endoscopic appearance, in being multicentric and in the gastro-intestinal tract involved. We conclude that even in the heterosexual African AIDS population, the gastrointestinal tract is frequently involved and this phenomenon, if more widely studied might give us new elements about the aetiophatogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma which is still unclear.