Rapid Progression of Kaposi’s sarcoma complicated with hemophagocytic syndrome in a severely immunosuppressed patient with HIV-infection: a case report

Abstract

Background AIDS-related KS generally involves cutaneous lesions, that slowly progress over months to years. Neither rapidly progressing of KS nor KS complicated with hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) has rarely been reported. Case presentation We report a rare case of rapid progression of Kaposi’s sarcoma complicated with hemophagocytic syndrome in a severely immunosuppressed patient with HIV-infection. The symptoms of this patient were atypical, showing only persistent high fever and rapid progressed to hemophagocytic syndrome. This patient was successfully treated with antiretroviral therapy combined with liposomal doxorubicin. Conclusions The condition of the KS patient could deteriorate rapidly over a period of days and even developeded into HPS, which was life-threatening. However, chemotherapy initiated in a timely manner might improve prognosis.

Macrophage Activation Syndrome in Viral Sepsis

“…Also, it may arise due to immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), which is an exaggerated inflammatory immune response following the initiation of highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) [101,102]. Lastly, HLH can emerge as a result of virus-associated malignancies [103,104]. The diagnosis of HLH in HIVpositive individuals can be challenging because the clinical and laboratory abnormalities that define HLH may also occur in advanced HIV/AIDS [65].…”