MUNCHAUSEN-SYNDROME AND CANCER

Munchausen's syndrome is a chronic factitious disorder characterized by frequent hospitalizations, self-inflicted injuries, and dramatic medical histories. People with this condition assume the role of a sick patient and submit to unnecessary invasive, painful, and even dangerous medical procedures. In review of the literature, there have been four reports of patients feigning oncological disease. We admitted a 27-year-old woman who had undergone operative insertion of a Port-A-Cath and multiagent chemotherapy for ''advanced ovarian cancer.'' Physicians should be aware of Munchausen's syndrome in order to avoid costly medical procedures and unnecessary operations and to stop the patient's vicious circle of pathological lying and self-inflicted injury. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.*