Outlook in oral and cutaneous Kaposi's sarcoma

We looked at survival of 138 patients with HIV-1-associated Kaposi's sarcom a. Patients with lesions of the oral mucosa had a higher death rate (risk r atio 3 .4 [95% Cl 1 .6-7 .1]; p=0 . 001) than those having exclusively cuta neous manifestations of the disease. Patients with oral Kaposi's sarcoma an d a CD4 cell count of at least 150/muL had a similar mortality risk to pati ents with the cutaneous disease but CD4 cell concentration of no more than 150/muL Thus, oral Kaposi's sarcoma is an important prognostic marker, at l east for patients who do not receive triple antiretroviral therapy.