Serosanguineous Pleural Effusions in a Patient With HIV and Kaposi Sarcoma

Abstract

A 22-year-old white homosexual male presented with severe shortness of breath. He was diagnosed as having human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and skin manifestations of Kaposi sarcoma (KS). He had a significant pericardial effusion, which was drained. He had bilateral pleural effusions, the left effusion larger than the right. His effusion was associated with primary effusion lymphoma. He was subjected to a pleuroscopy and the cause of the blood-stained effusion was thought to be due to chronic pleuritis and unrelated to the pleural KS. The patient also had the characteristic lesions of KS on the parietal pleural, which is unusual, as most involve the visceral surface.

Bilateral chylothorax in an AIDS patient with newly diagnosed Kaposi sarcoma

“…Pleural effusions can occur in 36%-60% of patients with Kaposi sarcoma, and it has been documented that chylothorax is a rare, but plausible presentation in patients with Kaposi sarcoma. 1 We present here a case of bilateral chylothorax in a patient with AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma.…”