Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Fibreoptic bronchoscopy in diagnosis of bronchopulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma.
  1. P J Hanson,
  2. J N Harcourt-Webster,
  3. B G Gazzard,
  4. J V Collins

    Abstract

    Kaposi's sarcoma of the lung patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome is often indistinguishable by clinical and radiographic criteria from opportunistic pneumonia. Pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumonia may frequently be present in the same patient. Previous observers have commented on the repeated failure to establish a diagnosis of Kaposi's sarcoma of the lung by fibreoptic bronchoscopy. Thirteen fibreoptic bronchoscopies were performed in a series of 11 patients with thoracic manifestations of AIDS and Kaposi's sarcoma was identified in transbronchial or bronchial biopsy specimens in four patients. This diagnostic yield is comparable to that obtained only by open lung biopsy procedures in previous reports. Fibreoptic bronchoscopy may contribute to the correct management of the patient and facilitate an accurate prognosis by differentiating between opportunistic pneumonia and pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma.

    Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.