Breast Cancer and Dermatomyositis - A story of Resilience and Medical Insights: Case Report

Florentina Negoi^(1,*), Madalina-Pusa Rosu⁽¹⁾, Denisa Predeteanu⁽¹⁾

1)Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, “Sfanta Maria” Clinical Hospital, Bucharest, Romania

Background: Dermatomyositis (DM) is an inflammatory myopathy associated with the presence of certain antibodies, such as transcription intermediary factor 1γ (TIF-1γ), which can be linked to a higher malignant risk.
Case Report: A 52-year-old female developed proximal muscle weakness, heliotrope rash, Gottron’s papules, V-sign, and Shawl’s sign, and was diagnosed with dermatomyositis with an anti-TIF-1γ phenotype. A complete oncologic screening was performed, including PET-CT, but the results were negative. Seventeen months later, the patient developed breast cancer, which was treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and left mastectomy with axillary lymphadenectomy. Clinical and paraclinical remission was maintained since oncologic treatment was initiated.
Conclusions: The appearance of dermatomyositis may have been in the context of a paraneoplastic syndrome due to breast cancer.

Keywords: dermatomyositis, TIF-1γ antibody, breast cancer, paraneoplastic syndrome

Corresponding author(s): Florentina Negoi, Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, “Sfanta Maria” Clinical Hospital, Bucharest, Romania; email: florentina.negoi@drd.umfcd.ro