Dermatomyositis and malignancy: case report and review of the Japanese literature

Abstract

The first reported association of dermatomyositis with malignancy was by Stertz in 1916, who described a patient with proximal muscle weakness, eyelid changes, and evidence of myositis on muscle biopsy as well as a coexisting gastric carcinoma. In the same year, Kankeleit described a patient with dermatomyositis and breast cancer--the seeds of a controversy were thus sewn. We report a female patient with multiple cancer who developed dermatomyositis and review the relevant Japanese literature. Our patient suffered from metachronous bilateral breast cancer and thyroid cancer. She underwent curative resection of all 3 tumors. Our experience suggests that clinicians should perform extensive screening of dermatomyositis patients to salvage those with occult cancer, although the issue of cost effectiveness also has to be considered.