Paraneoplastic Dermatomyositis with Cutaneous and Myopathic Disease Responsive to Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Therapy

Dermatomyositis is a myopathic or amyopathic autoimmune connective tissue disease that presents with classic dermatologic findings ranging from: poikilodermatous photosensitivity (shawl sign), eyelid edema and violaceous-pigmentation (heliotrope sign), lichenoid eruptions on the knuckles and elbows (Gottron's sign), periungual telangiectasias, and ragged cuticles (Samitz sign). Up to 30 percent of adult-onset cases of dermatomyositis may represent a paraneoplastic syndrome warranting a thorough work-up for malignancy. The authors present a case report of paraneoplastic dermatomyositis associated with triple negative, BRCA-1 positive, invasive intraductal carcinoma of the breast, whose myopathic and cuteanous symptoms were recalcitrant to high-dose corticosteroid therapy. Herein, the authors describe the first reported case of the use of an injectable adrenocorticotropic hormone agonist gel in a patient with myopathic paraneoplastic disease that achieved clinical resolution of both myopathic and cutaneous symptoms, but subseuqently developed significant hyperpigmentation of her face suspected to be secondary to a chemotherapeutic-induced pigmentary change which was augmented by adrenocorticotropic hormone therapy.