Concurrence of ovarian cancer and dermatomyositis. A report of two cases and literature review.

The concurrence of dermatomyositis and ovarian carcinoma deserves special attention owing to the gravity of its prognosis. Until now, only scattered case reports on women suffering from this disease combination had been published. In this paper the information available in the literature on 28 women afflicted with these diseases is collated. In addition, two such patients treated in our hospital are described in detail. The review highlights the various aspects of this disease combination, emphasizing the quadrupled incidence, advanced stage and uniform epithelial origin of the malignancy as compared with that in the general female population with ovarian carcinoma. The value of a meticulous gynecologic evaluation was proven in one of our patients with dermatomyositis; in her, ovarian carcinoma was detected in its early phase.