Acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis (Sweet's syndrome) and adenocarcinoma of the rectum

Summary Sweet's syndrome is a distinctive dermatosis that usually occurs as an idiopathic disorder. About 10% of cases have occurred in patients with myeloproliferative disease. Seven cases have been described with Sweet's syndrome in conjunction with a solid malignancy. We report a patient with Sweet's syndrome in association with an adenocarcinoma of the rectum. We believe that this syndrome may reflect a clinical manifestation of underlying myeloproliferative or solid malignancy. Sweet's syndrome is a characteristic dermatosis of acute onset, consisting of pseudovesicular, tender nodules and plaques, fever, arthritis and a neutrophilic leukocytosis. The associaton of Sweet's syndrome with myeloproliferative diseases has been reported several times. Acute myeloid leukaemia may occur in up to 10% of patients with Sweet's syndrome. 1,2 Reports of associations of the syndrome with non‐myeloproliferative malignancies are uncommon. We report herein a patient with Sweet's syndrome and an adenocarcinoma of the rectum.