title: Kaposi's sarcoma following living donor kidney transplantation: review of 7,939 recipients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is one of the most common tumors to occur in kidney recipients, especially in the Middle East countries. Limited data with adequate sample size exist about the development of KS in living kidney recipients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Therefore, we made a plan for a multicenter study, accounting for up to 36% (n = 7,939) of all kidney transplantation in Iran, to determine the incidence of KS after kidney transplantation between 1984 and 2007.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-five (0.69%) recipients who developed KS after kidney transplantation were retrospectively evaluated with a median follow-up of 24 (1-180) months. KS occurred more often in older age when compared to patients without KS (49 +/- 12 vs. 38 +/- 15 years, P = 0.000). KS was frequently found during the first 2 years after transplantation (72.7%). Skin involvement was universal. Furthermore, overall mortality rate was 18%, and it was higher in patients with visceral involvement compared to those with mucocutaneous lesions (P = 0.01). However, KS had no adverse affect on patient and graft survival rates compared to those without KS. Forty-four patients with limited mucocutaneous disease and four with visceral disease responded to withdrawal or reduction of immunosuppression with or without other treatment modalities. Renal function was preserved when immunosuppression was reduced instead of withdrawn in patients with and without visceral involvement (P = 0.001 and 0.008, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high incidence of KS in this large population studied, as compared to that reported in other transplant patient groups, suggests that genetic predisposition may play a pathogenetic role.
authors.affiliation: Nephrology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. behzad.einollahi@gmail.com
authors.forename: Behzad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Einollahi
authors.forename: Mahboob
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lessan-Pezeshki
authors.forename: Mohammad Hossein
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Nourbala
authors.forename: Naser
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Simforoosh
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pourfarziani
authors.forename: Eghlim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nemati
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nafar
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basiri
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pour-Reza-Gholi
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Firoozan
authors.forename: Mohammad Hassan
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Ghadiani
authors.forename: Khadijeh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Makhdoomi
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghafari
authors.forename: Pedram
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ahmadpour
authors.forename: Farshid
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oliaei
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ardalan
authors.forename: Atieh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Makhlogh
authors.forename: Hamid Reza
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Samimagham
authors.forename: Jalal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Azmandian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D055815:Young Adult