Kaposi Sarcoma Treatment in India

Ananya Reddy, a 58-year-old retired schoolteacher...

Ananya Reddy, a 58-year-old retired schoolteacher from Chennai, had always been active and healthy. A year after her husband passed away, she noticed a few painless, purplish patches on the soles of her feet. Initially dismissing them as bruises, she grew concerned when they multiplied and appeared on her legs. Her family doctor, noting her history of well-controlled hypertension, referred her to an oncologist. The oncologist, after a biopsy confirming Kaposi Sarcoma and tests revealing it was related to a newly diagnosed HIV infection (likely contracted from a blood transfusion years prior), recommended a combination of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to address the HIV and localized radiation for the most prominent lesions. Ananya was terrified, grappling with the dual stigma of cancer and HIV. The radiation treatments were painless but emotionally draining. Over the following months, as her ART took effect, the existing lesions faded significantly and new ones stopped appearing. Her recovery was more about managing the chronic HIV, but the KS was in remission. Emotionally, she moved from shock and isolation to finding a supportive community in an HIV+ patient group, transforming her fear into advocacy for early testing and destigmatization.