A woman concerned about the swirly spots all over her body found that the unusual rash was a rare sign of anal cancer.
The 74-year-old, unidentified, lived with the rash for almost a year before seeing a doctor.
She first received antihistamines, but that made no difference. Her rash then became more painful and she suffered from abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea.
This led doctors in Kansas to investigate other causes of the rash, but found it to be a symptom of her anal cancer.
The woman underwent treatment and is now in remission after her health anxiety, the doctors who treated her have now revealed.
A 74-year-old woman from Kansas, who had a rash of swirly patches all over her body, discovered it to be a rare sign of anal cancer. Depicted, the result
The woman received radiation and chemotherapy for a devastating anal cancer diagnosis, and the scaly patches on her skin disappeared within three months (photo)
Doctors at the University of Kansas Medican Center in Kansas City told the story in the New England Journal of Medicine.
This type of rash, although a sign of cancer, is rare, a dermatologist told MailOnline.
Dr. Adil Sheraz, a consultant dermatologist in London and spokesperson for the British Skin Foundation, said, ‘Erythema gyratum repens (the rash) is a rare condition, and in 80 percent of cases it is associated with an internal malignancy such as lung or esophageal cancer.
Internal malignancies and cancers can present as a rash on the skin. The rash itself is a sign of an internal problem and may be the first indication of cancer in some cases.
“This is not common in dermatology clinics, but when it does occur it is often quite striking and diagnostic.”
He added that such a rash is usually associated with blood cancer.
Anal cancer is rare, with about 1,500 people diagnosed in the UK each year and 8,300 in the US.
The woman had the red swirly markings on her thighs, buttocks, stomach and armpits for 11 months.
Dr. Megan Prouty, one of the dermatologists involved in the treatment of the woman, said the patient had been initially treated with antihistamines.
But over the next four months, the rash developed into scaly plaques, which could be a sign of many skin conditions from psoriasis to urticaria.
What most concerned doctors was that the woman also showed symptoms of something sinister.
Doctors performed a colonoscopy on the patient, with a camera inserted into the intestines.
Many anal cancers are found early because they are in a location that doctors can easily view with anal exams.
At that point, it became clearer – and stage 2 anal cancer was diagnosed in the woman.
Dr. Prouty said, “The patient was referred to the dermatology clinic for assessment of the persistent, developing rash.
“She received a clinical diagnosis of erythema gyrateum repens, a rare rash commonly associated with breast, lung or esophageal cancer.”
The woman received radiation and chemotherapy, and within three months, the rash was gone and she never came back – but she was left with scars.
It is not clear how long she needed treatment, but the report said she was in remission after eight months.
Human papillomavirus (HPV), which will affect up to four in five people at some point in their lives, causes more than 90 percent of anal cancers.
HPV, the name for a group of viruses that affect your skin and the moist membranes in your body, may never show symptoms, and cancer can take years to develop. It is unclear whether the woman had HPV.
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