COLIC ADENOCARCINOMA AND PROGRESSIVE SYST EMIC SCLERODERMA

The association of cancer and connective tissue disease is well known, the most frequent being certainly with dermatomyositis. The associati on cancer and PSS is more controversial. The incidence of neoplasia in that group seems to be comparable with the general population but the proportion of certain types of cancer is different, and the temporal relationship with the apparition of symptoms of PSS is stunning. The h ypothesis actually in favor is an imbalance of the immune system, whic h cause the diminution of the immune surveillance and the apparition o f cancer and a concomitant dysregulation of the system, causing the fi brosis of the PSS. We describe a 75 year-old white female who develope d a colic adenocarcinoma; she also had, concomitantly, a systemic scle roderma, with sclerodactyly and pulmonary fibrosis. The patient corres ponded to the criteria of the American Rheumatism Association for prog ressive systemic scleroderma (PSS). The prognosis of patients with PSS depends on their systemic involvement but also, we believe, in the mo re aged group, on the apparition of a neoplasia.