title: Post kidney transplantation Kaposi's sarcoma: the experience of a Mediterranean North African center.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to determine the overall and specific incidences of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) in a cohort of 568 kidney transplant recipients (KTR) in a single North African Mediterranean center.
  
  
  METHODS
  The records of 568 patients, who underwent kidney transplantation (KT) between June 1986 and December 2013, were retrospectively reviewed. Incidence was calculated by dividing the number of the different events by the total duration of follow-up. Survival rates and cumulated frequencies of KS were calculated according to the actuarial method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve patients developed KS corresponding to an overall prevalence of 2.1% and an annual incidence of 0.27% patient-years. Median time to diagnosis of KS was 23.3 months. Eleven patients presented with skin lesions; three had oral localizations and one had conjunctival involvement. Asymptomatic gastric localization was observed in one patient. Therapeutic management, consisting in reduction of immunosuppression in all cases and their conversion to sirolimus in four patients, resulted in complete regression of KS in seven patients. Graft loss was observed in three cases and four patients died of unrelated- KS causes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  KS is the most post KT malignancy observed in our country and is characterized by a predominance of limited superficial forms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine A (M8), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Laboratory of Research in Immunology of Renal Transplantation and Immunopathology (LR03SP01), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Imen
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gorsane
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine A (M8), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Laboratory of Research in Immunology of Renal Transplantation and Immunopathology (LR03SP01), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Mohamed Mongi
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Bacha
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine A (M8), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Ezzedine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Abderrahim
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine A (M8), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amri
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine A (M8), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Malika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hajri
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine A (M8), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Laboratory of Research in Immunology of Renal Transplantation and Immunopathology (LR03SP01), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Mondher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ounissi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine A (M8), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Amel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Harzallah
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine A (M8), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Fathi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: El Younsi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine A (M8), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Hafedh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hedri
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine A (M8), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Laboratory of Research in Immunology of Renal Transplantation and Immunopathology (LR03SP01), Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.|Faculty of Medicine, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Taieb
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ben Abdallah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000601:surgery*; D007677:Kidney Function Tests; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012514:Sarcoma, Kaposi / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D014416:Tunisia / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Kaposi; immunosuppression; kidney transplantation; sarcoma