Editorial

Systemic Sclerosis and Malignancy

Authors: Paola Caramaschi, Domenico Biasi, MD

Abstract

A meticulous review of the malignancies diagnosed in patients affected by systemic sclerosis (SSc) is presented in this issue of the Southern Medical Journal; all the cases of coexistent SSc and cancer described have been cataloged.1 The incidence of neoplasm in SSc seems to be higher than in the general population, and the possible links between the two entities have been revised; risk factors for malignancy are female gender, increasing age, and diffuse scleroderma pattern. Lung cancer is the most frequently reported malignancy followed by breast cancer; lung cancer often complicates the course of long-standing SSc with pulmonary fibrosis, which entails a chronic local injury that might lead to genetic mutations. Unlike lung cancer, coexisting breast cancer and SSc often arise in a brief time period.

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