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KS Apr 10, 2006 I have been hiv+ for exactly 2 yars. A recent skin biopsy came back that I have KS, and now my doctor wants to start me on meds. He also says I will have to be on them for the rest of my life. Is it cancer, or cancer like disease? How can I have contracted this only after 2 years? Is it fatal? |
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| Response from Dr. Young
 Thanks for your post. If you have biopsy-proven Kaposi's sarcoma, you have an AIDS-defining illness. Kaposi's sarcoma is a cancer that typically involves the skin and sometimes the internal organs. For KS with skin involvment only, sometimes the best treatment is more CD4 cells. All patients with active AIDS complications should be on HIV treatments, irrespective of other symptoms or CD4 count. You'll need to be on medications for a long while, though I'm hesitant to say that you'll be on them forever, since new strategies and treatments continue to evolve. As for having AIDS only 2 years after infection, this is relatively unusual, but certainly not rare. I hope this helps, BY | ||||||||
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