How Kaposi's sarcoma is diagnosed

How it is diagnosed Back to top

If you’ve already been diagnosed with HIV, your own specialist will usually arrange for you to have your symptoms investigated. However, some people may go to their GP with symptoms and will then be referred to a specialist for tests.

Your specialist may suspect you have KS just by looking at the skin lesions, but you’ll usually need a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.

Biopsy

This is usually a quick procedure that can be done in an outpatient department. Your doctor will remove a small piece of the lesion, which will then be examined under a microscope. The area may be sore for a few days, so you may need to take some painkillers.

Further tests Back to top

If the biopsy results show that you have KS but you don’t have any other symptoms, you may not need any further tests.

You’ll usually have further tests if your specialist wants to make sure that there is no KS elsewhere in your body. There are a number of different tests that can be done. Your doctor will explain more about the tests you need and why they’re the most appropriate for you.

Tests can include using a thin fibre-optic tube to look at and take biopsies of the inside of the lungs (bronchoscopy) or the gullet and stomach (endoscopy). You may also have a CT scan.

CT (computerised tomography) scan

A CT scan takes a series of x-rays that build up a three-dimensional picture of the inside of the body. The scan is painless and takes 10-30 minutes. It can help to show whether there are any signs of KS in other parts of the body. CT scans use small amounts of radiation, which will be very unlikely to harm you or anyone you come into contact with.

You’ll be asked not to eat or drink for at least four hours before the scan.

You may be given a drink or injection of a dye that allows particular areas to be seen more clearly. For a few minutes, this may make you feel hot all over. If you are allergic to iodine or have asthma you could have a more serious reaction to the injection, so it’s important to let your doctor know beforehand.