A 71 year old gentleman presented with a nodular growth in the upper end of a median sternotomy scar 17 years after an uneventful cardiac surgery. In the months immediately following the surgery he had itching over the scar and there was an episode of superficial infection in the scar two years hence. He presented this time with a history of itching, ulceration and nodule formation in the upper end of the old surgical scar over the last five months. On examination there was an ulcer at the top end of the sternotomy scar containing a three centimetre diameter nodular growth. He underwent a wide excision biopsy of the lesion which was reported as squamous cell carcinoma. Carcinomas are known to arise from scars of diverse aetiologies, but to our knowledge this is only the second time in the English literature a squamous cell carcinoma has been reported arising from a sternotomy scar.
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