Kaposi's sarcoma of maxillary gingiva in systemic lupus erythematosus

ABSTRACT

Kaposi's sarcoma was first descrided by Kaposi in 1872 as an idiopathic multiple hemorrhagic sarcoma. Its clinical features revealed to be erythematous red or purple macule started out, and developing into palpable dome-shaped nodules. Etiology is not defined to detail at present. Kaposi's sarcoma is classified to 4 categories; Classical, African, Epidemic and Immunosuppressive type. Epidemic categories is found approximately 20% of all AIDS patients and has strong predilection for head and neck region. The first case of immunosuppresive type Kaposi's sarcoma in patients with kidney transplants was reported in 1969. Kaposi's sarcoma accounts for 5% of all tumors associated with transplanted patients. The most common site of Kaposi's sarcoma in immunosuppressed patients are extremities, but rare in head and neck area. A 42 years old woman who had systemic lupus erythematosus visited to our clinic because of gingival hyperplasia, and excisional biopsy revealed Kaposi's sarcoma. We experienced a case of favorable results using excision and chemotherapy, so we report with review of literatures