[A case report of a primary pure squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach associated with dermatomyositis (author's transl)].

A 54-yr-old man was admitted to Hokkaido University Hospital, complaining of fever, multiple arthralgia, edematous erythema and face and muscular weakness of extremities during the last 2 months. He was diagnosed as dermatomyositis by acceleration of ESR, elevation of GOT, GPT, CPK, aldolase, moderate increases of collagen fibers in biopsy specimen of skin and his clinical signs. Although stools were positive for occult blood, the routine radiographic examination failed to detect the bleeding site in the upper GI. tract. However, in the double contrast picture of the stomach, a very fine abnormal linear shadow was observed at the upper corpus of the lesser curvature. This linear shadow was a margin of the tumor, retrospectively. About 4 months later, abnormal pain occurred and a mass was palpable in the left lumbar region, suggesting a pancreatic tumor. He was operated on excising the tumor, but was performed only exploratory laparotomy because of the presence of intra-abdominal metastases. Death occurred 40 days after the operation and necropsy was done. The gross anatomical findings of the abdomen showed a stomach tumor as large as an infant's head and its metastases to pancreas, lymph nodes, and greater and lesser omentum. Esophageal mucosa including esophagocardiac junction was intact. Histological examination of the intragastric tumor revealed a typical squamous cell carcinoma with keratinization. According to the absence of the components of adenocarcinoma and squamous metaplastic gastric mucosa of non-cancerous areas in the stomach, it seemed likely to be a heterotopic squamous cell carcinoma. It was unknown about the precedence between the stomach cancer and dermatomyositis. There have been 11 cases of primary pure squamous cell carcinoma in the world literature since 1968, but this is the first case report of coexistence of these two diseases.