Bone and Soft Tissue Tumours of the Foot: Review of 83 Cases

Abstract

Purpose. To review cases of bone and soft tissue tumours of the feet managed at the Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya and Takarazuka Municipal Hospital, Takarazuka, Japan. Methods. Retrospective analysis of 83 patient records treated for bone and soft tissue tumours of the feet between 1974 and 2000. Results. There were 33 benign bone tumours, one primary malignant bone tumour, and 2 metastatic bone cancer. Marginal resection was performed in cases of osteochondroma and curettage in cases of other benign bone tumour. Despite below-knee amputation in the case of chondrosarcoma, the patient died because of pulmonary metastasis. Two patients with metastatic cancer also died, and 2 cases of osteochondroma and one of benign chondroblastoma recurred. There were 47 cases of soft tissue tumour. Treatment for benign soft tissue tumours was marginal resection; no cases recurred. In contrast, all patients with soft tissue sarcoma died after surgery. The majority of bone tumours were located in the toe and hindfoot areas, in the first and second decades of life, whereas soft tissue tumours occurred mainly in the midfoot area and in patients aged between 20 and 50 years. The sex distribution was almost even for bone tumours (male: female ratio, 19: 17), whereas about half as many males as females had soft tissue tumours (14:33). Conclusion. Bone and soft tissue tumours of the feet are uncommon. Most bone tumours are chondrogenic, but differential diagnosis of malignant from benign disease is difficult and prognosis is poor. Management of benign tumours by marginal resection has good prognosis, whereas prognosis of soft tissue sarcomas is very poor.