If KS is not widespread, doctors can use radiation directed at tumor sites on the skin. Doctors also can remove lesions surgically or destroy them by freezing the tissue with liquid nitrogen or by injecting them with anti-cancer drugs. As with lymphoma treatment, growth factors may be prescribed to counter the immune suppression induced by the chemotherapy. Alpha interferon may be effective in treating patients with KS who have relatively healthy immune systems, as measured by the levels of certain immune cells in the blood and an absence of other major opportunistic diseases. Cancer of the cervix usually occurs without symptoms, although it can cause abnormal vaginal bleeding.
Anal cancer can cause red patches on the anus.
Pap smears, in which a scraping of cells is taken from the cervix, can detect cervical cancer at its earliest stage when treatment is highly effective. Women who are infected with HIV should receive Pap smears every 6 to 12 months to detect abnormal cervical cells that may develop into cancerous cells if left untreated. Early cervical cancer is managed by burning, freezing or laser destruction of abnormal cells or by surgical removal of affected tissue. More advanced cervical cancer is treated by surgically removing the cervix and uterus, and sometimes the upper vagina and lymph nodes in the area as well, or by radiation or chemotherapy. Doctors sometimes treat patients with anal cancers by surgically removing the tumorous tissues.