This article from Hugh Greenaway from San Diego looks at a series of melanomas on the foot and ankle. You can access the article in a Wordfile here.
Melanoma of the Foot and Ankle: A Case Series of an Underrecognized Entity
Melanoma is the most common malignancy of the foot and is more likely to be misdiagnosed on the foot than in any other location. Clinical mimics include verruca, onychomycosis, subungual hematoma, or ischemic digits.
Report of Cases
Recently at our institution, we treated 8 melanomas of the foot or ankle over a 6-month period. After obtaining institutional review board approval, we gathered the clinical data of patients with melanoma presenting to our clinic between July 1, 2003, and December 31, 2003, from our cutaneous surgery unit database at Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, Calif. Of the 69 melanomas treated in our unit during this 6-month interval, 8 melanomas (12%) were located on the foot and ankle, in contrast to our 21-year incidence of 4% (January 1985–December 2005, unpublished data). Clinical and pathologic characteristics of these 8 patients were reviewed and compared (Table).
1 comment:
To harp on one of my favourite subjects i.e. incidence of ALM this rate of occurence is much greater than the apparent rate in Oz. All the patients in this series were caucasian too if i remember correctly. This is one of the questions Cliffs study will hopefully answer. I believe the true incidence of ALM in Oz is < 1%. It certainly is in SW Sydney or Im missing a lot!
MartinB
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