MUNCHAUSEN-SYNDROME AND CANCER

Munchausen's syndrome is a chronic factitious disorder characterized b y frequent hospitalizations, self-inflicted injuries, and dramatic med ical histories. People with this condition assume the role of a sick p atient and submit to unnecessary invasive, painful, and even dangerous medical procedures. In review of the literature, there have been four reports of patients feigning oncological disease. We admitted a 27-ye ar-old woman who had undergone operative insertion of a Port-A-Cath an d multiagent chemotherapy for ''advanced ovarian cancer.'' Physicians should be aware of Munchausen's syndrome in order to avoid costly medi cal procedures and unnecessary operations and to stop the patient's vi cious circle of pathological lying and self-inflicted injury. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.