[Report of 8 cases of dermatomyositis: does association of this entity and neoplasms exist?]

To review eight cases of dermatomyositis (DM) and investigate the association of DM with cancer and mortality rate in this group of patients.

Retrospective study of DM cases at Fundación Jiménez Díaz from January 1991 and March 1996.

Only two out of the eight patients with DM had concomitant carcinomas (undifferentiated medium cell lung carcinoma and infiltrating ductal carcinoma 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 six 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 cancer has died.

Despite our small series, the incidence of cancer in patients with DM (25%) is similar to that observed in larger series (15%-30%). All patients presented with cutaneous lesions. Only one of them had also hemoptysis and was diagnosed of lung cancer. The diagnosis of breast cancer was obtained with a control mammography. The mortality rate in these two patients was not higher. The incidence of cancer is higher in older DM patients.