Introduction:

Chronic venous insufficiency is the set of symptoms and signs derived from venous hypertension in the lower limbs due to a valvular malfunction of the venous system. Several complications have been associated with this entity; one of them is Pseudo-Kaposi's sarcoma, a rare disease characterized by reactive vascular proliferation with skin lesions similar to those of Kaposi's sarcoma.

Objective:

To describe the diagnostic process of a patient with unilateral Mali-type Pseudo-Kaposi's sarcoma as a complication of chronic venous insufficiency.

Case presentation:

Fifty-one-year-old white female patient with about 9-year history of brownish erythematosus-type and squamous, crusty plaque-like skin lesions in the right lower limb that were progressively extending. The patient also presented chronic venous insufficiency. Unilateral Mali-type Pseudo-Kaposi's sarcoma was diagnosed, mainly considering the personal pathological antecedents, the clinical examination performed, the biopsy of the lesion, the immunohistochemistry for CD34 antibodies and the venous duplex imaging of the right lower limb. Compressive therapy of the limb and steroid ointment was indicated for the lesions, with improvement of the condition.

Conclusions:

Pseudo-Kaposi's sarcoma is one of the complications associated with chronic venous insufficiency. In this rare skin entity, the histopathological study and immunohistochemistry play a very important role in the correct diagnosis and differentiation of Kaposi's sarcoma, being this the main differential diagnosis to take into account.

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