{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T07:02:21Z","timestamp":1791442941464,"version":"4.3.3"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,22]],"date-time":"2021-05-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1621641600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Our purpose was to collect data on the incidence of malignant skin tumours presenting as chronic leg or foot ulcers in a tertiary centre, and to analyse the frequency and type of initial clinical misdiagnoses in these cases. A retrospective chart review of cases with melanoma or other malignant neoplasms of the skin of the lower extremity treated in a tertiary centre during January 2010 until February 2020 was conducted to identify cases that presented as chronic ulcers. Out of 673 cases, 26 (3.9%) were identified with a total of 27 malignant tumours presenting as chronic ulcers of the lower leg or foot. Therefrom, seven were diagnosed as melanoma, eight as squamous cell carcinoma, and twelve as basal cell carcinoma. The mean interval until diagnosis for all tumour types was 44.4 months (median 24 months). A delay in correct treatment occurred in 12 out of 26 cases (46%) as a result of misdiagnosis with subsequent treatment as chronic leg or foot ulcers of a different etiology. Misdiagnoses were venous ulcer, traumatic wound, mixed arterial and venous ulcer, arterial ulcer, and ulcer of an unknown origin. Malignant ulcers presenting as chronic ulcers are rare, but often lead to misdiagnosis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm10112251","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,23]],"date-time":"2021-05-23T23:58:05Z","timestamp":1621814285000},"page":"2251","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Malignant Tumours Presenting as Chronic Leg or Foot Ulcers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric","family":"Toussaint","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Universit\u00e4tsklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Ulmenweg 18, 91054 Erlangen, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7136-6489","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Erdmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Universit\u00e4tsklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Ulmenweg 18, 91054 Erlangen, Germany"},{"name":"Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen-European Metropolitan Area of N\u00fcrnberg (CCC ER-EMN), 91054 Erlangen, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carola","family":"Berking","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Universit\u00e4tsklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Ulmenweg 18, 91054 Erlangen, Germany"},{"name":"Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen-European Metropolitan Area of N\u00fcrnberg (CCC ER-EMN), 91054 Erlangen, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3722-6383","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cornelia","family":"Erfurt-Berge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Universit\u00e4tsklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), Ulmenweg 18, 91054 Erlangen, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"434","DOI":"10.1111\/wrr.12387","article-title":"Epidemiology of chronic wounds in Germany: Analysis of statutory health insurance data","volume":"24","author":"Heyer","year":"2015","journal-title":"Wound Repair Regen."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"116","article-title":"Etiology of chronic leg ulcers in 31,619 patients in Germany analyzed by an expert survey","volume":"9","author":"Klode","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. der Dtsch. 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