Kaposi’s Sarcoma after Steroid Therapy for Pemphigus foliaceus

Abstract

Rapid evolution of Kaposi’s sarcoma terminating in death, appearing in a pemphigus patient treated by corticosteroids, is described and the literature is reviewed.

Autoimmune bullous diseases in non‐HIVKaposi's sarcoma: a retrospective study in a large cohort of patients

“…In addition, we found approximately 20 cases of KS developed during immunosuppression for PV or pemphigus foliaceus . The duration of the immunosuppressive therapy before KS development ranged widely from a few weeks to many years; however, most patients developed KS during the first 3 years of immunosuppressive treatment.…”

“…Among patients with pemphigus‐associated KS described in the literature, six (30%) had visceral involvement. Moreover, seven patients (35%) died briefly after KS diagnosis: three patients for gastrointestinal bleeding secondary to gastrointestinal KS (steroids had not been tapered and only radiotherapy had been performed), a patient for cardiac failure during pemphigus exacerbation, a patient for sepsis after bleomycin chemotherapy and two patients for renal failure . Among the patients who experienced complete or almost complete response of KS, corticosteroid tapering was the most common therapeutic strategy.…”

Localized Kaposi's sarcoma in a patient with pemphigus vulgaris

“…To date, 10 cases of KS developed during immunosuppressive therapy for pemphigus have been published, 4–7 most of them with cutaneous and visceral involvement and some of them with remission of the lesions after stopping the immunosuppressive agents. The overall prognosis was poor: five of the 10 reported cases died within 1 year (Table 1).…”

Kaposi's sarcoma in a patient with pemphigus vulgaris

“…To date, 13 pemphigus patients have been reported to have developed KS. These include 11 men and two women, with an average age of 65 years (range: 26–89 years) . Eight had PV, two had pemphigus foliaceus, one had pemphigus erythematosus, and two had an unspecified variant.…”