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To the Editor.—
I have for years been interested in the relationship between benign dermatoses and malignant internal processes. The list of these associations is steadily growing.Not every dermatosis occurring in a patient suffering from malignant disease, however, is causally related to the malignant disease, and several of the following criteria must be fulfilled before the association of the two conditions can be considered causal. These criteria are: (1) The dermatosis and the malignant tumor begin at about the same time. (2) The two disorders follow a parallel course. (3) The tumor may be uniform or distinctive. (4) In certain syndromes a genetic basis is responsible for the two conditions (and criteria 1 and 2 need not be fulfilled). (5) There is statistical evidence for the association of the two disorders.In Kiely and Perry's patient (Arch Derm100:63-65 [July] 1969) none of the above criteria (perhaps with