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Endoscopic Appearance of Oropharyngeal and Upper GI Kaposi’s Sarcoma in an Immunocompromised Patient

Authors :
Umar Darr
Anas Renno
Zubair Khan
Turki Alkully
Maitham A. Moslim
Sehrish Kamal
Ali Nawras
Source :
Case Reports in Gastrointestinal Medicine, Vol 2017 (2017)
Publication Year :
2017
Publisher :
Hindawi Limited, 2017.

Abstract

Introduction. Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) usually manifests as a cutaneous disease but GI manifestation is often rare. It is associated with human herpes virus-8 (HHV-8) and seen in immunocompromised patients. In the USA, use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has drastically reduced incidence of KS in HIV patients. Case Presentation. A 65-year-old male with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with cardiopulmonary arrest secondary to hyperkalemia of 7.5 meq/L. Following placement of orogastric and endotracheal tube (ETT), a significant amount of blood was noticed in the ETT. Hemoglobin trended down from 9.6 mg/dL to 6.7 mg/dL over five days. Stool guaiac was positive. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) was performed and revealed multiple large hypervascularized violaceous submucosal nodular lesions with stigmata of bleeding seen on the soft palate and pharynx and within the cricopharyngeal area close to the vocal cords. Biopsy of the soft palate lesions showed proliferation of neoplastic spindle shaped cells arranged in bundles with slit-like capillary spaces containing erythrocytes consistent with Kaposi’s sarcoma. Biopsy was positive for HHV-8. Colonoscopy was unremarkable. There were no cutaneous manifestations of the disease. Conclusion. GI involvement of Kaposi’s sarcoma must be considered in immunocompromised patients and can be confirmed by endoscopic methods.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20906528 and 20906536
Volume :
2017
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Case Reports in Gastrointestinal Medicine
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.8b2c04d8aeae4779902794e7aa77fec2
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/3742684