ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DERMATOMYOSITIS AND C ANCER - REPORT OF 8 CASES AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Background. To review eigth cases of dermatomyositis (DM) and investig ate the association of DM with cancer and mortality rate in this group of patients. Materials and methods. Retrospective study of DM cases a t Fundacion Jimenez Diaz from January 1991 and March 1996. Results. On ly two out of the eight patients with DM had concomitant carcinomas (u ndifferentiated medium cell lung carcinoma and infiltrant ductal carci noma of the breast). The mean age was 62 years (the two patients with carcinoma exceeded this age). As for gender incidence, one of the two male patients in this study had cancer, compared with one out of the s ix female patients. The cause of death in the three patients who died was an infection and so far none of the two patients with associated c ancer has died. Conclusions. Despite our small series, the incidence o f cancer in patients with DM (25%) is similar to that observed in larg er series (15%-30%). All patients presented with cutaneous lesions. On ly one of them had also hemoptysis and was diagnosed of lung cancer. T he diagnosis of breast cancer was obtained with a control mammography. The mortality rate in these two patients was not higher. The incidenc e of cancer is higher in older DM patients.