Abstract:
A retrospective and comparative study was carried out on 605 cases from Tanzania and
33 cases from Switzerland over an 11 year period. Cases from Tanzania were 461 males,
112 females and 11 of unknown gender. In Switzerland 32 were males and 1 was a
female. Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) constituted 3.54% of all malignant neoplasms in
Tanzania during this period.
The male to female ratio of KS in Tanzania was 4.1:1 and for Switzerland 32:1. Kaposi's
sarcoma in Tanzania was seen more commonly in the 4th to 6th decade. There were two
peaks in Switzerland, one between 3rd and 4th decade and the second between 6th and
7th decade. There was no significant annual increase in the number of KS in Tanzania
during the study period whereas in Switzerland a sharp increase was noted from 1983
which is thought to coincide with the AIDS epidemic.
All age groups were affected in Tanzania but none was seen below the age of 15 years
in Switzerland. In children the male to female ratio was 2.3:1 indicating that KS is seen
more often in female children than in adult females which may suggest a possible
hormonal influence.
The most common epidemiological type of KS was Endemic African (EA-KS) in
Tanzania and AIDS-KS in Switzerland. It is concluded that the histological variations
seen in KS may reflect the various stages of the lesion.
