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Is This Ulcer A True “Chronic” Ulcer?
Author(s) -
Hiroshi Yasuda,
Koji Murata,
Ryoko Kinoshita,
Hideka Nakagawa,
Miwa Kobayashi,
Yoshiki Tokura
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
wound repair and regeneration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.847
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1524-475X
pISSN - 1067-1927
DOI - 10.1111/j.1067-1927.2004.abstractaf.x
Subject(s) - medicine , amputation , basal cell , skin ulcer , surgery , dermatology
Aim: Lethal diseases occasionally present with a “chronic” ulcer. If a physician can not realize this fact, the ulcer might give rise to a misery result. We present three educational cases of chronic ulcers that give caution to physicians. Case report: The first case was a hand ulcer due to postradiation squamous cell carcinoma, which eventually led to amputation of index and middle finger. The second case was a leg ulcer due to postburn squamous cell carcinoma, resulting in death caused by visceral metastasis. Both cases were treated as simple chronic ulcers at other clinics for a long time. The third case was a lower leg ulcer caused by infection with cryptococcus neoformans . The ulcer was covered with a split thickness skin graft after administration of anti‐fungal drugs. Conclusions: As seen in these cases, we must always have serious doubts why the ulcer is not easily healed. If the causative factor is not easily found, biopsies from the ulcer would be helpful for the true diagnosis of the ulcerative lesions.