File:Spindle cell sarcoma.pdf

Since the advent of highly active anti retroviral therapy (HAART), patients with HIV infection have seen a significant improvement in their morbidity, mortality, and life expectancy. The incidence of AIDS-defining illnesses, including AIDS-defining malignancies, has been on the decline. However, deaths due to non-AIDS-defining illnesses have been on the rise. These so-called non-AIDS-defining cancers (NADCs) include cancers of the lung, liver, kidney, anus, head and neck, and skin, as well as Hodgkin's lymphoma. Spindle cell sarcoma is the one of NADCs. The development of NADCs appears to be multifactorial. Risk factors include immunosuppressive effects of the HIV, higher rates of oncogenic viral co-infections and traditional cancer risk factors. A male patient who was HIV-infected with a complaint of ulcerated growth at left maxilla that challenges to his practitioner for diagnosis was presented in this paper. New strategies for screening, prevention and treatment of NADCs need to be developed to reverse these epidemiologic trends and improve the survival of HIV-infected patients.