ABSTRACT
Two malignancies, Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) and certain types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHLs) dominate the cancer types seen in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). According to the official definition of AIDS (1), the presence of either is considered an AIDS diagnosis in a person known to be HIV-infected, as is KS in a person younger than 70 years old, unless the patient is known not to be HIVinfected. The extraordinary frequencies of either cancer in HIV-infected persons amply justify considering these to be AIDS, but each has a rather different epidemiology and, presumably, etiology. Invasive cervical cancer is also accepted as an AIDS-defining cancer according to official guidelines, although the evidence for an association with AIDS is more tenuous. A variety of other cancers have been reported somewhat more commonly in AIDS patients, including epithelial anal cancers, conjunctival tumors, Hodgkin’s disease, and leimyosarcomas (in children), and these have been suggested to be AIDS-associated. The incidence rates for selected cancers in men (Fig. 1; 2) and women (Fig. 2; 3) at high risk of HIV infection show the influence of the AIDS epidemic on cancer incidence in some populations.
