Thalidomide in the treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma

BACKGROUND: Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a lymphangioproliferative tumour. Therapy of KS depends on the characteristics of the disease, especially area and growth rate of lesions, and patient condition. Currently symptomatic resectable lesions are excised, whereas more advanced disease and unresectable lesions are treated with radiotherapy. If a large area or internal organs are affected or other treatments fail, chemotherapy is used. Recently some authors have reported their encouraging experience in the use of thalidomide in patients with AIDS-related KS. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of thalidomide in 3 patients with non-AIDS-related KS. METHODS: Two patients with classic widespread cutaneous and 1 with iatrogenic cutaneous and visceral KS were treated with thalidomide (100 mg/day) for 12 months. RESULTS: In all 3 patients partial remission was evident after 4 months of thalidomide therapy; in 2 out of 3 complete remission was achieved after 12 months of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results seem to confirm the utility of thalidomide in the treatment of non-AIDS-related KS.