Dermatomyositis and female malignancy.

Six female patients, all with dermatomyositis (DM) and malignancy, have been evaluated and followed over a period of up to 6 years. Five patients had malignancy prior to the diagnosis of DM. Two of these five patients had uterine endometrial adenocarcinoma and another two patients had cervical carcinomas (one each adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma), and one had adenocarcinoma of the breast. In these five patients there was no evidence of malignancy at the time of diagnosis of DM. One of these five patients had an additional primary malignancy (adenocarcinoma of the breast) which complicated her course. An ovarian adenocarcinoma was present in the sixth patient. The ovarian carcinoma was discovered because of progressive cutaneous disease, and resection and chemotherapy led to a partial control of the DM. The patient with adenocarcinoma of the cervix developed metastases which were discovered when the DM became resistant to therapy. Although DM can parallel the course of a malignant disease, this was not generally the case in this group of patients.