The use of HAART improves the survival of people with AIDS-defining cancers, according to a US study published in the 20 June 2002 edition of the International Journal of Cancer.
Researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, Howard Brown Health Centre, and the University of Pittsburgh examined the impact of HAART on the survival rates of people with HIV diagnosed with Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
In a retrospective study, investigators reviewed data from 387 male patients enrolled in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, diagnosed with KS or NHL between 1990 and 1999.
Only 14% of the study population received HAART, mainly because the study covered a period before the availability of antiretroviral treatments. However, in people with both KS and NHL, HAART improved survival times even if treatment with HAART was initiated after the diagnosis of the malignancy.
Investigators noted that the mortality risk in HAART patients dropped by 84% in patients with NHL and 81% in those with KS.
Hopeful as the findings are, cancer is one of the principle causes of death amongst people with HIV in the HAART era. In the UK, NHL remains one of the major causes of HIV-related mortality, with approximately 200 of the 400 annual deaths attributed to the malignancy.
Tam HK et al. Effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy on survival among HIV-infected men with Kaposi’s sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. International Journal of Cancer, 97, 6: 916-922, 2002.