[Herpes zoster and malignancy]

A retrospective survey was conducted regarding the relationship between hospitalized patients with herpes zoster and malignancy based on clinical records. A total of 220 patient were hospitalized for treatment of herpes zoster during the past 15 years, and 23 of them had involvement with malignant tumors. Malignancy was found during hospitalization in 4 cases (1.8%). This was significantly higher than 0.27, the predicted number of malignancy cases. Three of the 4 cases were gastric cancer. The discovery rate of gastric cancer through screening at admittance was 2.4%, which was higher than 0.14%, the discovery rate in gastric cancer checkups in Hokkaido. Examination for malignant tumors should be required for all patients with herpes zoster who need to be hospitalized.