Making the Diagnosis
The lesions associated with Kaposi's sarcoma can often be mistaken for other disorders, such as benign fungal infections or another type of cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. For that reason, your doctor will need to take a thorough medical history, asking questions about lifestyle and sexuality. He or she may recommend you have a test for HIV. After a physical exam, a skin biopsy is usually done.
A punch biopsy takes a small piece of tissue, while an excisional biopsy will remove the whole lesion. If many lesions are present, several of these might be tested just to verify that they are all the same. The excisional biopsy is usually performed if there are only one or two small lesions.
Other tests might include:
- an oral exam, to check for lesions on the palate, tongue, gums, or tonsils
- a rectal exam, to check for lesions in the anus
- endoscopy, done with a flexible tube (affixed with a tiny light and a camera) that looks at the linings of the esophagus and stomach
- a barium enema, which allows doctors to track the progress of barium through the colon by using X-rays
- sigmoidoscopy, which involves using an endoscope or sigmoidoscope to view the lining of the rectum and colon
- chest X-rays, to check for lung lesions
- computed tomography (CT) imaging, which looks for lesions or other abnormalities
- bronchoscopy, which uses a thin tube used to look inside the lungs
- lung biopsy - if bronchoscopy shows lesions in the lungs, your doctor can take a sample for microscopic examination