Abstract
Introduction: The foot and ankle are common sites for benign tumours, ganglia and other conditions. The aim of this review was to look at the case mix requiring surgery that presented to a foot and ankle clinic over an eighteen month period.
Methods: Prospective data collection is performed for all patients presenting with lesions requiring surgery and this is stored on the tumour database in Oswestry.
Results: 80 cases presented over this period that required surgery.. There were 12 malignant primary tumours, 1 malignant metastasis, 5 cases of locally aggressive benign conditions (4 PVNS and 1 ABC) and the remaining 62 cases were benign conditions. There were more malignant conditions than there were ganglia.
Conclusions: In this series 16% of cases presenting as lumps to the foot and ankle clinic represented malignant disease. Although in most clinics this incidence will be diluted by other conditions of the foot and ankle, one must retain a high index of suspicion when dealing with lumps around the foot and ankle.
The abstracts were prepared by Mr Roger Tillman. Correspondence should be addressed to BOOS at the Royal College of Surgeons, 35–43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PN
