Open AccessMisdiagnosis of diabetic foot ulcer in patients with undiagnosed skin malignancies
Author(s) -
Lyundup Alexey V.,
Balyasin Maxim V.,
Maksimova Nadezhda V.,
Kovina Marina V.,
Krasheninnikov Mikhail E.,
Dyuzheva Tatiana G.,
Yakovenko Sergey A.,
Appolonova Svetlana A.,
Schiöth Helgi B.,
Klabukov Ilya D.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
international wound journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1742-481X
pISSN - 1742-4801
DOI - 10.1111/iwj.13688
Subject(s) - medicine , diabetic foot ulcer , diabetic foot , dermatology , foot (prosody) , skin ulcer , diabetes mellitus , endocrinology , linguistics , philosophy
A growing number of studies report dermal malignancies mimicking diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). We reviewed clinical cases reporting malignant tumours misdiagnosed to be DFU aiming to identify factors contributing to misdiagnosis. We systematically searched in PubMed for clinical cases reporting on misdiagnosis of DFU in patients with cancer. A chi‐square analysis was conducted to show the link between the incidence of initial DFU misdiagnosis and patient age, gender and wound duration. Lesions misdiagnosed to be DFU were subsequently diagnosed as melanoma (68% of the cases), Kaposi's sarcoma (14%), squamous cell carcinoma (11%), mantle cell lymphoma, and diffuse B‐cell lymphoma (both by 4%). Older age (≥65 years) was associated with a significantly increased risk of malignancy masked as DFU (OR: 2.452; 95% CI: 1.132 to 5.312; P value = .019). The risk of such suspicion in older patients (age ≥ 65 years) was 145% higher than in younger patients (age < 65 years). Clinicians should maintain a high level of awareness towards potentially malignant foot lesions in elderly patients with diabetes (age ≥ 65).