Bone tumours are not common in the bones of the feet. We reviewed 10 years of referrals to the Leeds regional bone tumour registry between 1990 and 1999 which revealed twenty such tumours accounting for 5% of the total number of 341 bone tumours.

The mean age of the patients was 32 years (range 2 yrs to 80 yrs).

Men were affected more commonly than women (60% versus 40%).

40% affected the tarsal bones, 25% affected the hind foot, and 35 % affected the small tubular bones of the foot.

80% of tumours were benign. Malignant tumours accounted for only 20 % of all foot tumours and of these, 95% were primary tumours and only 5 % were metastases. Malignant tumours were found more frequently in the older population mean age (50 years).

Bone tumour registries offer a reliable source of data to study rare neoplasms in a large population group.