ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia 2000 October;135(5):569-78

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Treatment of classic Kaposi sarcoma

Masia I. M., Satta R., Rosella M., Montesu M. A., Masala M. V., Cottoni F.

Università degli Studi - Sassari Istituto di Clinica Dermatologica (Direttore: Prof. D. Cerimele)

Background. The authors review the various local and systemic forms of treatment. They report the pharmacokinetics, the dosage and collateral effects of the most commonly used forms of chemotherapy. They also outline the future prospects for treatment. The authors report their personal experience of the use of some forms of chemotherapy between 1990 and 1995. Different therapeutic approaches are used in classic Kaposi sarcoma (CKS): local treatment, suitable for single and localised lesions, and systemic treatment for extensive and visceral lesions.
Methods. Twenty patients suffering from CKS (17 M and 3F) were treated using 3 different therapeutic protocols. Bleomycin 15 mg iv/week was used in 10 patients; vincristine/vinblastine was used alternately once a week in 9 patients for a total of 6-8 cycles, and etoposide 100 mg per os in 1 patient for 5-7 days consecutively every 21 days. Subsequently, 4 of the patients receiving other treatment protocols were transferred to etoposide therapy.
Results. By evaluating the overall response obtained with the three treatments, including the 4 patients undergoing double treatment, we obtained 14 partial remissions (PR), 2 complete remissions (CR), 4 non-responders (NR), 1 progression (P) and 3, non-assessable cases (NA). The remission period ranged between 3 months and 4 years for patients receiving bleomycin treatment, 3 months to 1 year for subjects treated with vinca alkaloids and 3-6 months for patients treated with etoposide.
Conclusions. In the light of this experience, and in line with other authors, we feel that the drugs that are currently, used to treat CKS are an effective means of controlling its evolution.