A review of the efficacy and outcomes studies of currently approved chemotherapy treatments for advanced AIDS-Kaposi's sarcoma

Abstract Background Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)—related Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a rare aggressive tumor. The benefits of drug therapy are established by clinical trials but it has been a challenge to draw comparisons between the different advanced AIDS-KS pharmacotherapy available. This review aims to evaluate the currently approved chemotherapy drugs for the treatment of AIDS-related advanced KS as well as the economic burden and impact on the quality of life of patients. Material and methods Relevant articles were identified through a systematic review of the literature via a search of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) PubMed database and the Internet (clinicaltrials.gov) using relevant medical subject heading (MESH) terms. Results A total of 7 phase II and 4 phase III trials of liposomal anthracyclines (liposomal doxorubicin [PLD] and/or liposomal daunorubicin [DNX]) were identified. An evaluation of the trials comparing PLD to a competitor showed statistical difference p ;0.01. DNX phase III trials were also evaluated and showed no statistical differences ( p  = 0.64). For paclitaxel, 6 clinical trials were selected (5 phase II and 1 phase III); however heterogeneity was not evaluated. 4 cost-effectiveness studies were compared and 3 concluded that PLD is more cost-effective than the competitor. 4 quality of life studies were analyzed. Conclusion AIDS-KS impacts the patient's life physical, emotional and economic well being. In this work we compared studies of liposomal anthracyclines, still; further research among all the approved drugs for KS is warranted to evaluate efficacy as well as its economic burden worldwide.