AIDS-Associated Pulmonary Cancers

Neoplastic disease occurs more frequently in immunocompromised patients than in the general population. It may be the presenting condition in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The appearance of Kaposi ’s sarcoma (KS) in young men in the United States in the early 1980s and the increasing incidence of KS in Africa were among the first observaztions to suggest the emergence of a new disease (1) . Individuals with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and those with AIDS represent a large segment of the group of patients with compromised immune status. These patients, on the whole, are more susceptible to the development of malignant neoplasms. KS and malignant lymphoma are the two most widely recognized neoplasms in patients with AIDS (2 -5) . The relationship between bronchogenic carcinoma and HIV infection is somewhat less clear and subject to ongoing study. Several other malignant neoplasms may also occur more frequently in this population.