Non-AIDS Defining Malignancies Become an Emerging Problem in HIV-Infected Patients

The introduction of HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) caused significant decrease in the incidence of AIDS-defining illnesses among individuals undergoing antiretroviral therapy. In the resent years, the research observed a worrying increase in the incidence of non-AIDS-defining illnesses and increases mortality related to these cases. In this retrospective study, we observed surgical pathology cases with HIV infection those sent to Oral Pathology Unit, University of Dental Medicine, Yangon, from January 2013 to November 2015. Twelve cases were analyzed in relation with their request forms and biopsy results. In general, there were noticeably larger numbers of non-AIDS-defining malignancies (for instance, oral squamous cell carcinoma). According to this study, non-AIDS-defining malignancy is found to be an emerging problem in HIV-infected patients. Further epidemiological and clinico-pathological studies as well as screening procedures should be warranted to solve this problem.