Treatment considerations for KS are different than for any other solid (non-blood origin) tumor . There are two major reasons.
• The first is that there is never a stage or site of origin that can be cured.
• The second is that there is no relationship between the stage of the tumor and the response to treatment.
Starting therapy early in the disease does not appear to change either the prognosis or the overall length of
survival.
For these reasons, many physicians will not treat early disease with systemic (drug) therapy. Patients with early localized disease may receive radiation to the spots or local chemotherapy injections, or their condition may be monitored without any treatment given until it is needed.
Decisions on whether, when and how to treat patients are based on a number of factors such as the rate of growth, the site of involvement, the general physical condition of the patient and the severity of symptoms.
Standard Treatment Lesions of the gastrointestinal tract (stomach, small and large intestine) are common but usually do not cause symptoms. When they do cause symptoms—such as pain, bleeding or an inability to eat a normal volume of food—either chemotherapy or local radiation may be useful.
Lung lesions have a poor prognosis. Patients find it harder and harder to get enough air. When this happens they may live only a few months. Radiation therapy to the lungs plus chemotherapy given at the same time, followed by so-called maintenance therapy, has been used with a moderate degree of success.
