Abstract
Background and Study Aims: Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) has been evaluated for diagnosing and staging of
a variety of gastrointestinal tumors, but there are no data on EUS in Kaposi's sarcoma
(KS). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of EUS in addition to
endoscopy in the diagnosis and staging of patients with established or suspected upper
gastrointestinal KS.
Patients and Methods: 22 male acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients were prospectively studied,
three of them before and after chemotherapy with liposomal doxorubicin. The features
of gastrointestinal KS were recorded, and EUS was assessed for diagnosis in endoscopically
negative or inconclusive cases, and for staging in endoscopically visible KS lesions.
Results: The typical EUS feature of KS was a hypoechoic and nonhomogeneous lesion leading
predominantly to mucosal and submucosal thickening, whereas a few lesions presented
only with submucosal involvement. EUS detected suspicious lesions in two patients
with negative endoscopy, which turned out to be KS on follow-up. Restaging after chemotherapy
in three patients showed regression of lesions both on endoscopy and EUS.
Conclusions: EUS may contribute to better detection of early KS lesions and a more reliable delineation
of the extent of gastrointestinal KS, which is valuable for assessing the effect of
various forms of therapy.
