Disseminated cutaneous and visceral Kaposi’s sarcoma in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis receiving corticosteroids and tacrolimus

Vol.21 No.3

Case Report

Disseminated cutaneous and visceral Kaposi’s sarcoma in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis receiving corticosteroids and tacrolimus

Authors

Takashi Taniguchi¹ , Yoshihide Asano¹ , Makiko Kawaguchi¹ , Asako Kogure¹ , Hiroshi Mitsui¹ , Makoto Sugaya¹ , Shinichi Sato¹

Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan

Received:

29 September 2010

Accepted:

14 November 2010

Published online:

28 December 2010

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Abstract

Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) is a vascular lesion of low-grade malignant potential caused by the complex interactions between geographic, genetic, environmental, and immunological factors. We recently experienced a rare case of KS associated with rheumatoid arthritis in a patient receiving corticosteroids and tacrolimus; the KS demonstrated unusually aggressive clinical behavior. We herein report the details of the clinical course and discuss the possible contribution of corticosteroids and tacrolimus to the development of aggressive KS in the present case.

Key words

Corticosteroids - Kaposi’s sarcoma - Rheumatoid arthritis - Tacrolimus