• The Journal of the Korean bone and joint tumor society
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.199-203
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• 2005

Malignant melanoma commonly occurs in skin and the incidences are uncommon. Especially, the incidences of subungual melanoma is less than 2% of total numbers of melanoma, and most of the cases tended to be misdiagnosed at first time. Thus, the prognoses are not good. We are going to report our experiences of subungual melanoma and diagnostic criteria in great toe initially misdiagnosed as ingrowing nail with a review of the literature.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.101-104
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• 2009

Purpose: Subungual squamous cell carcinoma is a very rare malignant tumor of the digitus especially in toe making it very difficult to differentiate with tinea unguium, verruca vulgaris, eczema, pyogenic granuloma, and malignant melanoma due to their clinical similarities. Therefore this article reports on subungual squamous cell carcinoma of left 5th toe. Methods: A patient visited at our hospital due to pain and incurable inflammation on left 5th toe with no improvement for four months. Despite of antibiotics and dressing for a week, treatment was ineffective. After excisional biopsy, he was diagnosed with subungual squamous cell carcinoma. And ray amputation and prophylactic inguinal lymph node dissection was done. Results: The biopsy was showed irregular cells made up of anaplastic and squamous cells in the dermis and epidermis. And the inguinal lymph node showed no metastatsis. The patient had been treated without significant complications and recurrence for a year. Conclusion: This article emphasizes the need of diagnostic biopsy on the subungual lesions that have resistance to the conventional treatments. And if that is subungual squamous cell carcinoma, complete resection of the lesion and prophylactic inguinal lymph node dissection is essential.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.97-99
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• 2007

Nail bed malignancies are rare entities. Most nail bed malignancies are squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)s. Less than 10% of subungual SCCs occur in the foot. Fifty percent occurred on the hallux and approximately 25% on both the fourth and fifth digits. The correct diagnosis is often delayed because nail bed malignancies are frequently mistaken for benign or infectious processes. SCC on extremities is hard to distinguish from the benign lesion like chronic ulcer, fistula caused by chronic osteomyelitis, and abscess fistula. Attention should especially be paid in diagnosing the subungual lesion because paronychia is a common disease. SCC is the most common carcinoma second to malignant melanoma as a soft tissue malignant tumor in the West, and it involves mainly the head, neck and upper extremities but rarely involves lower extremities, particularly the toes. The authors emphasize the importance of a biopsy for chronic nonhealing lesions by presenting this case.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2006

Purpose: We reviewed the clinical finding of malignant melanoma of the foot in korean because it's advanced stage and extended lesion at diagnosis. Materials and Methods: Retrospective study was enforced about the 11 cases who has diagnosed to malignant melanoma of the foot from February 1995 to March 2004. The mean follow up period was 61 months. In this study we used age, sex, site, depth, histology, clinical stage, precursor lesion, misdiagnosis, interval to diagnosis, survival time, survival. Results: Average age was 58 years and number of female was six. Common site of involvement were heel of plantar surface (6 cases) and subungual area (2 cases). Depths of involvement were 0.3 to 10 mm, most common histological type was acral lentiginous melanoma (7 cases), stage 5 according to classification of Clark were 5 cases and stage 2 or more according to clinical staging were 8 cases. precursor lesion were benign melanocytic nevi (2 cases) and ill defined (9 cases). Chief complaint were increasing of size, color change, pain and ulceration. Conclusion: Malignant melanoma of the foot usually arise at nonvisible area and is easy to be misdiagnosed or delayed treatment. So it is hard to early diagnosis and have poor prognosis. So we need education and effort to early detection and diagnosis.