Disseminated Kaposi Sarcoma with Osseous Metastases in an Hiv-Positive Patient

Abstract

Kaposi sarcoma is a neoplasm commonly associated with human herpesvirus 8 and HIV/AIDS. We present a 44-year-old African immigrant woman who presented to the emergency department after several months of abdominal pain. She was found to be HIV positive, and computed tomography demonstrated numerous lesions of the lungs, liver, and spleen, gastric wall thickening, and several lytic lesions of the spine. Fluoroscopy-guided biopsy of a lytic lesion of the spine yielded the diagnosis of Kaposi sarcoma. AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma with osseous involvement is rare, with approximately 30 cases reported in the literature. When osteolytic lesions are encountered in an HIV-positive patient, Kaposi sarcoma should remain in the differential.